Complaints of poor service delivery by the ANC/ActionSA Tshwane Council, in the Laudium/Erasmia area continue, with residents once more expressing their frustrations.
While the local ANC Ward Councillor, Patel, was recently engrossed in preparing his birthday party with top notches from the ANC, seemingly with the hope of getting a cushy position in Council, residents in the area remain deprived of using Council owned facilities such as parks which are not properly maintained and even the local swimming pool, which has been closed for months, apparently due to a lack of funds to maintain the pool. The local Cricket Ground, owned by the Council and leased to the Cricket Club, is also very badly neglected, with the Ward Cllr seemingly silent on the matter. The once well maintained ground is now neglected with long grass around it, turned into a bush and the maintenance of the place seemingly being zero.
Daniel Dorasamy, a resident of Marble Street, which is near the Cricket Grounds, told the Laudium Sun, “I used to go often to Laudium Cricket Grounds when the ground was in a good condition, well maintained and a safe place to be. I used to go for walks, take my mom with me and it was a place where we could relax and do our health activities. But some time back, the officials of the Cricket Club that is apparently in charge of the Laudium Cricket Ground, banned the public from entering, saying it’s usage was only for those members belonging to the club. This is a public ground, so how could they ban us from entering? They stopped people from going in because they or the Council can’t maintain the ground anymore. As you can see now, there’s long grass all around it, a broken electricity pole and everything there is falling apart. The Club or the Council is not maintaining the place at all. This is really bad, as we, the residents of Laudium, want to use the grounds in the mornings or evenings for taking our walks, when there are no cricket activities there. The Laudium Cricket Ground own by the Council and leased to the Cricket Club, is now a neglected place and there are lots of illegal activities going on there. It’s used by criminals to hide as well. The Council should maintain the cricket ground and cancel the lease with the club and also open it to the public, so that we can once again enjoy our morning or early evening walks around the ground.”
19th Avenue resident, Anil Singh, told the Laudium Sun, “The Laudium Cricket Ground is a no-go area and day by day, it is becoming a really scary place to be. There are many youngsters who want to play cricket in Laudium, but how can they play when they have to fear snakes coming from the long grass around it? The Cricket Ground is not maintained at all and they have banned the community from going there to perform our walking or running
activities in the morning. I used to go and run on the ground, but they said I can’t go there anymore because the usage is only for members of the cricket club. I believe that there is internal politics among club members, but Ian Naidoo, who is apparently the chairman of the Laudium Cricket Club must have the place fixed and maintained, so that we and our children can once more freely use the grounds in a safe environment. The ground does not belong to the club so why are we ratepayers being restricted?”
When the Laudium Sun visited the cricket ground there was no caretaker at the place, but only a security guard, Lawrence Lesufi. The guard told the Laudium Sun, “I haven’t seen the City of Tshwane workers for a long time now, as the grass is very long and they have not come to cut it. Residents normally come to play here, but they stopped because of the long grass. It is not safe here anymore.” Ian Naidoo of the Laudium Cricket Club told the Laudium Sun, ”We as the custodians of cricket in our community, are committed to doing our utmost, in collaboration with the City of Tshwane, to ensure a reasonable level of upkeep and maintenance at the Laudium Cricket Ground. Our goal is to support the game of cricket while also allowing club members—who contribute to the facility’s maintenance—to enjoy its benefits. We are fully aware of the challenges posed by the City of Tshwane’s limited resources, including a lack of working machinery and staff, which impacts the upkeep of the ground.” Ian added, ”Access to the ground is limited to club members for security and safety reasons, as we cannot open the oval to just anyone or everyone. Additionally, to preserve the condition of the oval, its use must be restricted to cricket only, and we cannot accommodate other types of sports.”
*A few months back, a number of nyaopes who were living for a while in the club house on the Cricket Grounds were removed by law enforcement officials, with the clubhouse found to be extensively damaged. Despite the nyaopes living there for a while and the neglected Cricket Grounds, there has been no mention by Cllr Patel (as he usually posts) of taking action against the Cricket Club or even taking the matter up with the Council for the poor state of affairs of this important community asset. But then again, as mentioned, the Councillor has been pretty busy hobnobbing in Laudium, with the top brass of the ANC.