Durban — The deputy city manager of Community Emergency Services, Musa Gumede, said park and recreation projects were prioritised according to the community’s requirements as identified by ward councillors.
Gumede was speaking during the reopening of the People’s Park Kiddies Zone at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday.
The kiddies’ area was closed for refurbishment after the playground’s attractions were no longer safe to be used because they were badly corroded.
The park is flanked by a number of sports and leisure amenities, including a play area, picnic sites, eventing space, café/restaurant and a race track.
Earlier this year, a Daily News reader complained about the state of the city’s parks, including the Japanese Gardens, Essenwood Park and Mitchell Park.
The reader said the wooden jungle gym in one of the parks was in a poor state. Moreover, the sand in the playground area needed to be raked and cleared of weeds and litter as most of the children did not use shoes when they were in the playground.
“More benches are needed around the playground for parents. Also, the children's toilets next to the playground are not working properly. The boys’ toilet does not have proper urinals and the wash basin is broken,” he said.
The reader further said the tap outside the playground along the paved pathway was working, but the outlet seemed blocked. Furthermore, the water was pooling in the basin making it difficult to wash a child’s hands or to fill a bottle of water for children to drink.
Gumede said the city had numerous facilities in all the wards, and the capital budget for parks was around R180 million, depending on the year, for the whole city projects.
He said some of the projects were outside financial years because the budget allocated was not sufficient to rehabilitate all the necessary projects in one financial year.
“It is done on a yearly basis that we decide and prioritise which areas need new equipment and which need to be rehabilitated. This also depends on the amount of budget Parks has.
“Some of the facilities that you mentioned are on our plans for future financial years. However, I am not sure at this moment which financial year,” Gumede said.
He said the Japanese Gardens had been rehabilitated and repaired and maintained at least one-and-a-half years ago.
“With regards to maintenance requirements, issues that need to be done on a daily basis, we could maybe look and improve on that,” he said.
Gumede said most townships had had gyms and play areas established thanks to a community innovation programme which allowed communities to identify facilities they wanted and submitted them to their area councillors.
“Some communities identified gyms as their needs as they believe it would assist them in improving their health and fitness and also to attract creating safe spaces in parks. If there are people, criminality is reduced.
“We then allocate money per ward after councillors had identified, through their structures, what was needed in those communities. We have rolled out gyms because of that programme,” said Gumede.
Speaking during the reopening of the play zone, the chairperson of community services, Zama Sokhabase, said the facility had become run-down during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“During this period, the play area became unstable and things rusted. For that reason, minor facelifts were needed for this facility to be used again. An upgrade is planned for 2023/2024 financial years.
“We are hoping Durban residents are going to enjoy this park because it is free, safe and secure, with adequate parking,” she said.
Daily News