Letters | A cesspool of filth
"How ludicrous that the official slogan for the Msunduzi Municipality is City of Choice. A city which they let fall into dreadful ruin and decay."
A once well-maintained City of Flowers, with an efficient municipality and conscientious councillors, has turned to rot. A pity, since it once was a city of potential.
The City of Flowers was famous for its beautiful blossoms and the parks were pristine. Now our once beautiful nature is overshadowed by piles of rubbish.
How ludicrous that the official slogan for the Msunduzi Municipality is City of Choice. A city which they let fall into dreadful ruin and decay.
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After having enjoyed living in Cape Town, Kimberley and Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg is aptly described as The City of Filth, brought about by its slothful municipal officials and councillors.
One of the primary functions of a municipality is to ensure the continuous delivery of essential services which responsible citizens pay for. The municipality and its councillors have failed dismally in their duties.
It is a non-performing municipality that has become a feeding trough for its officials of all ranks, while its councillors stand by and watch pathetically. Gluttonous municipal officials have raided and continue to raid the coffers of a once thriving municipality.
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Piles of many days of garbage bags lie alongside our roads and as a road runner, it is unpleasant to breathe the stench of garbage spilling out of the bags. Hadedas and vagrants rip open the bags which then become an attraction for flies and vermin.
It is indeed shameful to Pietermaritzburg that Comrades Marathon runners from far and wide are going to complete their gruelling run in the City of Filth.
Although it was reported that refuse collection has been disrupted by an illegal strike by municipal workers, it is common cause that this predominantly ANC driven municipality and councillors lack the wherewithal to act against errant municipal workers. After all, they feed from the same trough. Wake up municipal officials and councillors, wake up!
Vanitha Soraya Gounden Clarendon
Editor’s note: The Msunduzi municipal workers’ strike is not illegal but protected.
