Despite reporting the gradual disintegration of a stormwater drain in Marguerite Street, Kragga Kamma Park, to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality almost three years ago, the issue was allegedly not dealt with, resulting in the complete collapse of the drain. Now just metres away a second stormwater drain is in the process of collapsing as well.
Ward 8 councillor, Gustav Rautenbach, said that after a resident informed him about the gradual disintegration of a stormwater drain in Marguerite Street, Kragga Kamma Park in January 2021, he reported the matter to the municipality and allegedly received a response that the matter would be added to their list of complaints, and would be attended to as soon as possible.
Rautenbach continued to follow up on the initial complaint, via email and through multiple phone calls, but received no further update.
Finally, in May this year, Rautenbach said that the resident informed him that the stormwater drain had collapsed.
He said that he immediately reported the collapse of the stormwater drain to the municipality, but it was only in July that barricades were placed around the site.
Rautenbach further said that no work has been done on the site since July.
“It is concerning that one half of the road is left in a very dangerous state since it is hollow underneath the road,” said Rautenbach.
“The collapse of the stormwater drain occurred before the recent heavy rain, and can therefore not be blamed for the collapse in May.”
In addition to the stormwater drain that has collapsed, Rautenbach said that just metres away a second stormwater drain is disintegrating, and is expected to collapse as well.
Rautenbach said that his ward deserves to be taken care of by the municipality and he therefore demands that the situation be dealt with.
“The residents pay rates and taxes to receive services from the municipality,” he said.
In addition to the municipality’s alleged lack of interest in the repair of stormwater drains in the area, Rautenbach said that the Vitry Stream which runs alongside Marguerite Street is not regularly maintained or cleaned, which has caused the banks alongside the stream to gradually fall away.
He further said that the build-up in the stream also prevents the free flow of water.
A resident of Marguerite Street who would prefer to remain anonymous confirmed that the stream, which is located in their backyard and serves as a barrier between their property and their neighbour’s property, was not regularly cleaned.
As a result, part of the bank along the stream has fallen away, taking with it their brick stairs and wooden fence.
“Since the stream is not regularly cleaned, during recent heavy rains the water would rise all the way up to the top of the stream,” said the resident.
“On many occasions, with help from my gardener, I would put on my gumboots and get into the water to clean it myself. I remove twigs and various other items which fall into the stream.”
The resident, who has lived in Marguerite Street for over 20 years, said that with their stairs and part of their fence breaking off, the exposed section is dangerous, and they are concerned that the banks along the stream would continue to fall away, causing further damage.
“It is important for the municipality to rehabilitate the Vitry Stream and they need to place gabions on the curved sections of the stream to avoid the banks from breaking off,” said the resident.
The resident further said that there is a large amount of flora and fauna that are dependent on the water in the Vitry Stream.
In the hope that a plan of action would be implemented to deal with the stream and the stream banks, the resident said that the municipality was informed about the situation in their back yard in July.
A municipal official from the Roads and Stormwater Department allegedly inspected the situation and said that “there was no problem since the stream was free flowing”.
“The municipal official said that they would provide us with an update soon; however, we have not received any feedback in over a month,” said the resident.
Rautenbach said that the municipality needs to conduct a full inspection of the Vitry Stream.
“Weak points within the stream need to be identified and worked on,” said Rautenbach.
After sending a media query to the municipality on September 7, PE Express had not received feedback at the time of going to print on September 11.
