Kenilworth Park residents have complained about illegal dumping and missing drain covers in the area.
Vagrants sleep in the shrubs on the corner of Race Course and Doncaster roads, and the spot is littered with empty liquor bottles, clothing, plastic and pieces of cardboard, and there is a similar problem on the corner of Punters Way and Doncaster Road.
Kenilworth Park resident Colleen Lowry is appealing to the public to not give money, food, clothing and blankets to street people standing near the traffic lights.
“You are only feeding their addiction to drugs and alcohol,” she said, suggesting that those who want to help the homeless should rather support an organisation like U-Turn.
Drains on the Doncaster Road and McKinley Road pavements are also missing their covers, and Ms Lowry has reported them to ward councillor Katherine Christie’s office.
Ms Lowry said a makeshift cover over a drain on the corner of McKinley and Doncaster roads was too small, and the one side stuck out “for people to trip over”.
The City should consider replacing the missing drain covers with ones that could be locked in place, she said.
Another Kenilworth Park resident, Otilia Harker, said they had to put in weekly requests to council to clean up the area because of litter left behind by street people.
“All the dirt is cleared up, then, after a week, the homeless will come back to the area in the vicinity of Punters Way,” she said.
Ms Harker said she had also noticed missing drain covers in Kenilworth Park.
Resident Louise Rehbock said: “Punters Way is the only way in and out of Kenilworth Park, so seeing a dump of dirt against the tree shrubs is the first thing we see when we leave and enter the area.”
The homeless were using the drains to store their belongings, she said.
Ms Christie said she had logged requests with the City’s solid waste department to attend to dumping on the corner of Doncaster and Race Course roads.
There had been an increase in the theft of drain covers across the metro, and the City was struggling to replace them all, she said.
“They do replace them with ill-fitting ones if there are none in stock, and the open manhole is a danger to pedestrians or motorists.”
She said she had escalated the requests for manhole covers directly to the City’s roads and water and sanitation officials.
Mayoral committee member for urban waste management Grant Twigg said cleaning teams were servicing the Kenilworth Park area almost daily.
“In general, the department makes an effort to minimise the impact of vagrant communities’ waste on surrounding residents,” he said.
Mayoral committee member for water and sanitation Dr Zahid Badroodien said the City would attend to drains with missing manhole covers.
He urged the public to report vandalism to the police. “We need the community to be our eyes and ears as we cannot afford to see service delivery to vulnerable communities hijacked by a few opportunistic criminals.”
Service requests and complaints can be logged by calling 0860 103 089 or SMSing 31373. Or got to capetown.gov.za.
