The Delft community has raised the alarm about road infrastructure inconveniences that have disrupted their daily lives.
Lansdowne Road, an intersection before entering Ward 24 in Delft, has been flooded by water for months, according to locals.
Delft resident Ronnie Banjwa lamented on a twitter post earlier this week that: “The coloured community have been trapped for months, nothing has been done till to date. If it was Constantia, this drainage system would have been revolved quickly,”.
Zimasa Conjwa, a nurse residing in Delft, said that the flooding at the intersection causes major concern for her as a resident.
“There are informal settlements on the banks surrounding the road, and children love to play on the side of that road. What if a child finds themselves in danger? I also used the road before to get to work. The road has been flooded for months, even before the rains,” she said.
Ward councillor Phumla Tause said every winter, the City claims to do drain clean-ups around the community for winter readiness, but the drains always spill over.
“There have been several complaints about that road. Many of the residents who reside in my ward use that road. The majorly affected are the ones living on the informal settlements that surround that road.
“The frustration for us ward councillors is that we receive these complaints and bring them up at council sittings, and nothing is done about it. Those who complain expect us to have all the solutions, but our hands are tied too. We do take up the issues, and when there is no delivery, we look like the incompetent ones.
“I must admit though that there have been occasions whereby the City has come to attend issues we raised but are prevented by locals who claim that they have the skills to aid the problems that are being fixed, so why allow the City to do it? They want jobs, and they want the jobs the City has outsourced,” she said.
Tause also blamed the old machinery of the City as the reason behind this annual catastrophe.
Mayco member for urban mobility Rob Quintas said: “Lansdowne Road, close to Sheffield, becomes flooded as the existing stormwater run-off from Thabo Mbeki East informal settlement flows over the road surface towards Klipfontein Mission. Catch-pits were installed along the road and were previously discharged into an open earth canal. Over the years, this canal and natural flow has been closed off by residents with infilling on their privately owned property.
As an outcome, once the system is full, water starts pounding on the road surface. The Roads Infrastructure Management department then pumps away the water with the aid of external contractors or the City’s internal depot maintenance teams each time.The stormwater functions are therefore compromised due to illegal infilling and building.”