The residents of Fairbreeze in Tongaat are drawing attention to what they call a mountain of problems facing their community.
For years, residents said their community is struggling to get through problems such as faulty street lights, refuse collection, illegal dumping and road surfaces. Roy Pillay, a resident of Fairbreeze, said for the past five years the community has seen a rapid decline of cleanliness and general upkeep of the area. He said: “The issue of the faulty streetlights has caused numerous problems for our community. One night, a pedestrian was almost killed while walking through an unlit road as the driver was unable to see him. What happens when children walk through that road and a motorist cannot see them? We cannot wait for an unfortunate circumstance before we take action.” Pillay said other challenges that follow faulty streetlights are the threats of criminality. “No lighting means criminals have the advantage of moving around at night targeting the vulnerable, such as the elderly, before any of the residents can see them and take action.”
Residents said they have brought these issues to the attention of the councillor but haven t gotten any joy. “We have spoken to him on numerous occasions. He has promised to look into our matters but there is no plan of action and he does not communicate with us. We need our councillor to be more active, listen and understand the needs of the community and communicate with us about the progress of certain issues,” said Pillay. Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said the faulty street lights leave him with the endless fear of getting robbed while walking home late from work. “We live in constant fear and don’t see any police patrolling at day or night. A sad factor in all this is that there is no communication from the community and when a meeting is called to address these concerning issues residents always have an excuse and only a handful attend. We need our community to play a more active role as we are not getting any joy from authorities.”
