Kenville residents are up in arms after the only convenient route, Kew Road, collapsed on Saturday, 10 April. Frustrated residents said that it has been three years since the closure of Kenville Road, which was meant to be completed last year. They say another alternative route is Temple Road, in Sea Cow Lake, which also has numerous potholes and is not in a sustainable state. Residents are demanding the completion of Kenville Road which they say will ease their plight.
Residents claim that the construction of Kenville Road has come to a halt, due to insufficient funds by the municipality and they say this has made their lives a living hell. The ongoing traffic jams have resulted in residents having to change their route and also impacting business trade in the area. Olika Saikoolal, a Kenville resident, said an appeal to the city has been made to recognise the plight of the residents in the Kenville and Sea Cow Lake areas. “Since the closure of Kenville Road, residents used Kew Road as an alternative route. Kew Road is now closed. Residents do not have an alternate entry and exit point that is safe to use. All other roads are ladened with issues. The completion of Kenville Road is taking years to complete,” said Saikoolal. She said residents are tired of the city’s apathy towards their concerns and they demand action. “We demand the completion of Kenville Road and that the reinforcement of Kew Road is expedited. Sihle Zikalala, can we see some service delivery,” said Saikoolal.
Mischen Lutchman, a resident, said the Sea Cow Lake and Kenville formal and informal residents always seem to get a raw deal when it comes to service delivery from eThekwini Municipality. “Be it stolen electricity cables and water meters – we are sometimes left without these necessary amenities for days. These amenities are very crucial for our area, with the high crime rate. Our roads have always been in a bad state and are collapsing – landslides, debris and rubbish from informal settlements, continuous sewer overflow from municipal informal toilets and many illegal electrical connections are on most of our roads,” he said. Lutchman said that Kenville Road has been closed for the last three years, due to lack of funds and Sea Cow Lake Road has unstable landslides at times that block the access of residents. “The flooding of Sea Cow Lake Road during rains is caused by poor stormwater drainage. With Kew Road now being closed off, we are left to use the dangerous tunnels to Sea Cow Lake Road. These are low-height, single-lane tunnels that will not allow emergency vehicles, metro electricity or water department vehicles to pass through. We often have our informal settlement shacks up in flames, and we experience water and electricity outages. Our DA-run ward is left in the dark when it comes to service delivery from the Roads Maintenance, DSW and Metro Water departments. We urgently await an overdue visit by our eThekwini mayor. Service delivery is required by both formal and informal residents,” added Lutchman.
Ward 34 councillor, Bobby Maharajh, said he understands the frustration by residents and has made calls for the Kew collapsed road to be attended to by the City. “On Saturday I was called by residents to witness the road that had crumbled. According to the residents they had witnessed a construction truck travelling on Kew Road,” said Maharajh. He said the matter is still to be investigated for accuracy. Commenting on the road closure that has caused inconvenience for Kenville Road users, he said the residents have been put on hold for far too long. “The city keeps on extending the completion dates which is really making the residents angry and I understand their resentment,” added Maharajh. Anil Beekrum, vice-chair of Kenville and Sea Cow Lake Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association said the closure of the road had an immense impact on residents and businesses. “Both road closures will have a great impact to the residents of Kenville. We have two primary schools, a high school and two mosques that are in the area. This is causing an inconvenience for them because they have to use other alternative routes which are also in a bad state,” he said. Beekrum requested that the city speed up the construction work that has taken more than three years to complete. EThekwini Municipality was contacted for comment but none was received at the time of going to print.
