- A new park in Ward 67 has fallen victim to vandalism, causing frustration among residents and city officials.
- Councillor Gerry Gordon condemned the act, calling it “disgusting” and warning that the City may not fix the park if the vandalism continues.
- The incident adds to the ongoing issue of vandalism in the city, which has already cost millions in repairs and replacements.
Vandalism continues to rear its ugly head as a new park in Ward 67 was vandalised last week.
The incident, which occurred on Wednesday 16 October, left Ward 67 councillor Gerry Gordon to comment on the ugliness of vandalising property.
“Today, we see vandalism in its ugly form,” she said. “It is absolutely disgusting that some people will feel the need to destroy what is beautiful and to be preserved.”
Gordon said it was unfortunate that everything that was created or fixed was inevitably destroyed by the few.
“We cannot continue on this path where everything is being destroyed by a few,” she added.
Last month, the City released statistics on the cost of theft and vandalism to replace stolen and vandalised manhole covers.
The Water and Sanitation Directorate spent over R12 million on replacing and repairing 6 590 stolen and vandalised sewer drain manhole covers between July last year and June this year.
According to Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien, vandalism causes a strain on the City’s financial resources which in turn affects service delivery.
“It’s important for the public to be aware that replacing vandalised or stolen manhole covers puts a strain on the City’s financial resources and causes delays in rendering services as maintenance demands amplify,” he shared. “Each act of criminality diverts valuable time and funding away from daily essential services.”
During winter, missing drain covers added pressure on operations and increased service call-outs.
“Many covers are reported stolen or damaged due to vandalism, with a costly replacement value, much of which can be mitigated through public awareness and behavioural change,” said Badroodien.
“Replacing manhole covers is essential to ensuring public safety for vehicles, pedestrians and infrastructure integrity. It also improves the reliability of our sewer systems, reducing unwanted experiences of sewer overflows on streets, resulting from blocked drains caused by illegal dumping through open manholes,” he concluded.
