Tshwane metro police personnel were captured on camera assisting with filling potholes with soil at the Daspoort tunnel in Pretoria West in addition to controlling traffic.
Image: Supplied
Residents of Ward 1 in Pretoria West spent the weekend queuing to sign a petition, demanding the City of Tshwane to address a range of service delivery issues, including fixing faulty streetlights, potholes, and burst pipes, among other grievances.
Ward 1 councillor Leon Kruyshaar said the intention is to finish the petition forms this week and hand them in by the end of the week.
He said the campaign is gaining momentum online, with over 200 signatures collected, and 500 people signing on-site.
“We currently lack service delivery in the ward. The potholes and streetlights are the big ones,” he said.
He said the situation has deteriorated since the current administration assumed office six months ago, with metro police even resorting to filling potholes with soil, as captured on video recently at the Daspoort tunnel.
“The issues are that we got potholes and we got streetlights that are not functioning. We can’t complain about service because there isn’t any. We wait hours, days and weeks to get power back on. We wait hours, days, weeks or months for burst water pipes to be repaired,” he said.
He described the situation as unacceptable, stating that service delivery in his ward is terrible.
“We have been complaining about this and hopefully things will change now when I hand in the petitions,” he said.
He lamented that residents are struggling to reach an agreement with the city regarding the debt relief scheme.
"Residents aren't getting help with settling their accounts with the city," he said.
He pointed out that some residents have complained that their meters haven't been read in a year.
“When they receive their accounts, they're already in arrears, and they're being sent around in circles when seeking solutions," he said.
He said members of the mayoral committee (MMCs) are aware of the service delivery issues, which are often highlighted in WhatsApp groups.
He specifically mentioned the problem of long grass in the area, which he believes is due to either a lack of budget or willingness to address the issue.
He also expressed frustration about the state of the parks, describing them as unfriendly to the public.
He said six sectors of the community policing forum in ward 1 are affected, with three experiencing high crime rates, partly due to vagrants sabotaging streetlights to commit crimes and selling the streetlight heads.
He said: “Vagrants are sabotaging streetlights to facilitate criminal activities. They sell the heads of the streetlights. While we were in place as the DA, Mayor Cilliers Brink made a deal to purchase solar light for us and it seems like the deal was cancelled.”
MMC for Utility Services, France Boshielo, had yet to respond to a request for comment regarding the service delivery issues raised by Kruyshaar.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za
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