ByNasiha Khan
The decay of the Virginia Bush Nature Reserve has become an area of concern for neighbouring residents who fear that the site will soon be another ignored and derelict park, at the hands of the municipality.
The Nature Reserve, which forms part of the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (DMOSS) that links a number of significant conservation sites, allows the free movement of fauna and flora. However, as of late the reserve has fallen victim to illegal dumping, sewage spills and a general lack of maintenance which was only exacerbated by the recent torrential rains.
According to the chairperson of the Glen Anil and Glen Hills Ratepayers Association, Pete Graham, the area is just another victim to municipal negligence. He said: “In many places it is quite badly eroded, though not to the point where it is extremely dangerous but it certainly isn’t safe. There is no signage advising of what’s to come. The bridges are definitely off limits. A washed away path is one thing but an undercut bridge is another all together”.
Graham said that aside from the general mess and untidiness of the unkempt walkways which is frequently used by trail runners, all of the eroded sand has settled to the bottom pond resulting in it disappearing all together.
“There was also a recent sewer spill of unknown origin in the middle bush which had abated, however, the stench of raw sewage baking in the sun has created a mini eco system all of its own for the 1000’s of flies and mosquitos that now resident in the area. Given the vast amounts of raw sewage lying around (and flowing) I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see significant out breaks of bacterial infections of the stomach and bowel,” added Graham.
Durban North resident, environmentalist and founder of the Kinship Programme, Michaela Geytenbeek also expressed her concerns about the state of the area. She said: “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, a lot of the rainwater has been trapped in the upper bush and we urgently need a pathway for the water to leave.”
Geytenbeek said that in an effort to rehabilitate the nature reserve, she and likeminded community members were thinking of resorting to manual labour to try to excavate some of the sand and get the bush back to what it was. “We have actually scheduled a clean-up meeting on 11 June at the Virginia soccer field between 9am to 12pm,” she added.
Another resident, Dave Ward told Durban North news that most residents have been on the municipality’s case for an extremely long time regarding the state of the nature reserve. He said: “That bush is poorly maintained by the municipality and residents have been on their cases for so long about general upkeep and maintenance.”
According to Ward 36 Councillor Shontel de Boer, complaints centred around the Virginia Bush are extremely common, especially by residents who frequently utilise the area for their daily trail runs. She said: “They have closed off certain parts of the bush as well so a lot of people who were doing their running and walks through the area don’t have access to that and those who have been in there complained on the condition.”
Cllr De Boer added that she recently sent the municipality an email requesting a report containing the extent of the damages, a plan to move forward in repairing the area and information pertaining to any progress made. “They sent me a response that was underwhelming to say the least. They basically said that they sorted out everything, which is obviously not the case. I sent them another email around two weeks ago copying the relevant departments but still haven’t got a response yet,” she said.
Cllr de Boer’s initial response from the municipality pertaining to the report said that: “There has been information submitted to management for insurance claims mainly from the building. Within the bush area, some part of our trails, plastic bridges have been washed off by heavy floods which resulted in severe soil erosion as run off from rain sediment ended up into the main pond reaching about a knee high and more. This has resulted in us having to put a danger tape, information papers at the main entrance and surrounding the pond warning our daily visitors to avoid the area. The sewer leak was reported to the relevant department and the team came on site but didn’t fix it on the first day, a follow up was done and came back and fixed it.”
The Durban North News did reach out to the eThekwini Municipality for comment, however, there was no response at the time of going to print.
