Cassim Park tumbling downhill

Amidst the alarming lack service delivery experienced in Ermelo and its surroundings, Cassim Park is getting the short end of the stick regarding maintenance from Msukaligwa Local Municipality (MLM). What was once the pride and joy of residents in this area, Cassim Park has since regressed to a hollow shadow of its former glory. Streets are riddled with potholes, a myriad of worksites are left incomplete, several streetlights are either damaged and leaning dangerously towards the roadway, or completely out of order, and uncollected refuse litter the sidewalks.

Grass on municipal grounds are long and unkempt, and council buildings, covered in graffiti and obscene spray painted images, rot away in glorious non-maintenance. Residents are fuming at the fact that they face electricity issues on a daily basis, often being left for hours without electricity, with a very slow response rate from municipal departments. Speaking to residents in the area, they claim to have reported these issues they face on a daily basis to MLM on several occasions, with no joy. Apart from the above, residents are also wholly disgusted with the multiplying heaps of household refuse and building rubble on the sidewalks and in the wards. Dissatisfaction has also been directed at the behavior of municipal refuse collectors, who allegedly contribute to the pollution issue faced by residents. “Some weeks the refuse collection service doesn't even arrive. When they do, they make more of a mess than anything else, tearing the refuse bags and leaving the aftermath for us to clean up. It's a constant uphill battle with service delivery from Msukaligwa Local Municipality. Because they often don't collect the refuse, some residents have taken it upon themselves to ditch their household refuse in fields and parking areas. It's shocking, to say the least.”

These were the words of an unhappy resident in Cassim Park. She contacted the Tribune ePaper regarding the growing refuse issue that plagues Cassim Park, and the nonchalant behavior from teams responsible for refuse removal. Upon investigation, it is clear that Cassim Park is in service delivery crisis. Once beautiful buildings and shopping centres have been reduced to husks of their former glory, with vagrants and vandals taking their toll on municipal buildings and infrastructure. The sidewalks and wards are littered with uncollected refuse, business premises are wrought with debris, fallen lampposts and all manner of unsavory items. The roadways are a maze of potholes, and overgrown grass and shrubbery on municipal grounds make basic driving a task of horror.