By Bongekile Gumede
Feelings of fear and neglect among residents of Springfield and surrounds have prompted them to get support from the Poor Flat Dwellers Movement in a bid to get the attention of eThekwini Municipality after many failed attempts to get intervention from the municipality following extensive damage to infrastructure caused by the recent floods.
The Poor Flat Dwellers Movement is a human rights affiliated NPO working to alleviate the social injustices of the people to restore their dignity after the recent floods. The NPO has been mandated by the residents of wards 25 and 31 to appeal to eThekwini Municipality on their behalf to effect urgent remedial measures to secure the environment and people in order to prevent further loss of life and property.
On 11 April, the province of KwaZulu-Natal was affected by a storm of catastrophic proportions which had a ripple effect of complete destruction leading to the government declaring a National State of Disaster. Maureen Rambhadursing, director of the Poor Flat Dwellers Movement, said the movement recently drafted a report to the eThekwini Mayor’s office as requested by the affected residents and ratepayers. Rambhadursing said they have consulted extensively with the affected residents and relevant experts and have conducted detailed inspections of affected properties which need the urgent attention of the municipality.
“The points for your urgent attention are: the flow of water which flows northward through the retention pond on the Asherville ground situated below Tarndale Avenue, Roslyn Avenue and Lantana Place; washing away the back area of the homes and exposing the foundations of some of the homes situated along these roads. This has resulted in the sewer line being broken and exposed, leaving the unbearable stench since 12 April.”
This water flowed down into the Asherville ground and the Asherville pool, gushing out and over into the lower retention pond. Rambhadursing said the water from the upper retention pond flowed into the Asherville ground’s lower retention pond near Dr RD Naidu Drive which was constructed in 1987 and has been in a state of severe dilapidation with no maintenance for an extended period of time.
“The lower retention pond was full at 3.22pm on 11 April and hence the heavy rains exacerbated the situation as the retention pond was already filled by late afternoon. On the morning of 12 April the water overflowed, rushing down into the lower lying Springfield area with immense force and resulting in severe damage to the properties situated on Tulip Road. A portion of the road was washed away to the extent of exposing the foundation, making the property inaccessible for the homeowner. The homes on Vinca Road immediately behind Tulip Road were flooded. The elderly residents were rescued, however, the volume of water and the speed broke down the back wall of one of the residences situated on Vinca Road and the homes have been severely affected,” said Rambhadursing.
She said that the water also flowed down Marigold Road, crashing into all the homes below road level and breaking all the retaining walls before continuing to flow over into Nagari Pracharni Primary School then down the embankment to the culvert at the bottom which resulted in a mudslide affecting the houses along Foxglove Place. The mudslide affected 13 homes and a further eight homes on Ribes Place, also flowing into Dahlia Road and Lotus Road, completely destroying homes and resulting in the loss of three lives.
Members of the SCRA said all the details were communicated with eThekwini Municipality, however, they feel that they are being neglected as no form of communication or assistance was received from the municipality. SCRA Chairperson, Anton Bradley Albert, said the community informed the municipality that sewer lines and stormwater drainage needed to be cleaned out, however, there has been no intervention.
“Our community is presently still residing in these unstable structures that they know as home only because they do not have the means or finances to secure an alternative that will enable them to be safe. Our community is in a state of desperation and hopelessness as there has been no communication or visibility of our government 30 days into the disaster. Some of the houses that have had most of their foundations undercut from the flooding were rendered unstable. Furthermore, any further shift or heavy rains in the area will result in the entire embankment on Lotus Road collapsing completely, destroying the homes along the embankment as well as the ones across the road,” said Albert.
He said there are many urgent requirements in their area and one of them is the embankment between Lotus Road, Dahlia Road and Aster Place which needs to be reinforced at the bottom and on the top. Albert said that he would like to thank the ordinary community members for assisting by physically attending to calls for help from other residents.
“SCRA endeavours to work tirelessly for their community and will soon be hosting a community meeting for which a notice will be sent out via social media platforms. We would like to thank every single community member who came out through torrential rains, wading through a high level of water and in the dark as there was no electricity. You guys are truly selfless and the real heroes to our people. We as the SCRA stepped in to provide relief by providing daily hot meals, blankets and water, together with the Gift of the Givers who assisted us with 4 000 5L bottles of drinking water and over 300 food hampers, which we distributed to the affected residents of Springfield and the surrounding communities,” said he added.
Active Citizen Coalition PR Councillor, Mohammed Ismail, met with the SCRA and Rambhadursing for an oversight visit and confirmed that the situation is dire and needs urgent attention. “I have been in correspondence with the relevant department heads to address this matter and it is being attended to. We hope to see that this matter gets the attention that it deserves within the next few days. It’s unfortunate that residents have to live under these conditions and circumstances,” said Ismail.
The SCRA said that Springfield ratepayers have collaborated in a joint effort with other ratepayer associations from Puntans Hill, Clare Estate, Newlands East, Asheville, Sydenham, Umdloti and surrounding areas. Anyone willing to join in the rebuilding of the affected areas is more than welcome to contact the SCRA by emailing scra.ratepayers@gmail.com or by calling SCRA secretary, Trinisha Bachoo, on 074-200-2608.
