After four years of pleading with the municipality, the Gonubie Ratepayers Association has finally succeeded in forcing BCM to remove overgrown vegetation from 12th Avenue and Arum Road that had caused dangerous traffic obstructions for residents living there.
This follows a meeting between the Gonubie Ratepayers’ Association and the newly appointed BCM mayor Princess Faku. At the meeting, residents raised their concerns about the vegetation and this was resolved over the Easter weekend.
The vegetation was so severely overgrown that the pedestrians had to walk on the road.
The road is very narrow and there was not enough space for the cars and the pedestrians at the same time which placed pedestrians in danger of being hit by oncoming traffic.
The road is used by children walking to Sprouting Bambino’s Edu-care on Arum Road.
Chair of the Gonubie Ratepayers Association Henri Smith said: “We are very lucky that someone was not killed or very badly injured.
“The first time I requested the removal of the vegetation was on August 2 2019 via a letter to BCM.
“It was only resolved in April 2023 after a ratepayers’ meeting, only because that meeting was attended by our new mayor. As normal citizens, we were basically ignored.
“I had various meetings with BCM, and no action was taken to have it rectified. As the ratepayers’ chair, I feel proud that we were able to attract the attention of the highest power within the metro and welcome the partnership we can have with the mayor’s office.
“I want to assure all ratepayers that we will keep on fighting for better service delivery.”
Smith believes that the relationship between the mayor and the ratepayers association will strengthen as both parties work together to resolve other challenges plaguing the community.
He said: “Some of the concerns we, as a community, have included the completion of the main cement road in Gonubie. The sidewalk still needs to be finished so all pedestrians and disabled members of the public can use that stretch of the road safely.
“The road is very dark and the circle at the police station needs to be completed to allow streetlights to be installed. Until this is done, the road is a dangerous stretch of road for its users.
“We also would want the cement road that was started between Blackrock and the point in Gonubie finished. The sand bank retaining wall for the high seas needs to be completed.
“Last, but not least, are the potholes in Gonubie. We would want to see a scheduled plan on where the roads will be resurfaced and where the potholes will be fixed.
“We need a schedule so someone can be held accountable.”
