Frustrated residents of Eland House on 45 Butcher Road are demanding answers from eThekwini Municipality about garbage that has been left to rot on the sides of the building for over two weeks.
They claim that since a resident who was picking up the garbage was told to stop, the place has been a mess with flies, maggots and rodents manifesting and entering their homes. Mary Appelgreen, chairperson of Eland House Committee, said the garbage is overflowing since 14 June. “The last time the garbage was removed was on 19 June and to date we have not seen anyone coming to pick up the garbage.” She said when the resident stopped, the municipality brought three workers to clean the surroundings and pack up the garbage, however, “all they did was waste time on their cellphones and lay on the grass enjoying the sun”, claimed Appelgreen. Another angry resident, Moira Daymen, said they want proper maintenance. “They send people who do a shoddy job. We are demanding that they give the job to someone from this building as the previous lady did a very good job. She made sure that it’s clean and she worked alone. Why was she told to stop?” asked Daymen. The residents also raised concerns over poor maintenance of the building. One of the residents claimed that the building has not been maintained for some time. “Our corridors and stairs are cracked and this is a health hazard for the elderly and for our children. Our toilets are leaking and it was reported to the municipality and the Housing Department, however, it has not been fixed in 6 months.”
They also complained about bird lice on their ceilings, broken window latches and doors that are not closing properly. “We need the entire building to be fumigated, especially now with Covid-19 in our midst,” said another resident, who did not want to be named. Ward 31 Councillor, Charmaine Clayton, said she has tried contacting the Housing Department telephonically on the matter and via email, however, there has been no response. “I have also raised concern previously on why they are not including me or inviting me for meetings when they meet with the residents. I was promised that going forward, I will get invites and to date I have heard nothing,” Clayton said. EThekwini spokesperson, Mandla Nsele said, “The Eland House 30 240L bins and DSW also supplies black refuse bags which are collected every Tuesday. In most instances, bins were not put out for collection on the scheduled collection day. The city does provide the refuse collection service and residents are requested to take out their refuse and place it on the verge in the morning of the collection day.”
