‘From drab to fab’ says parks manager

Gone are the days where flushing brides walked the lush green carpet with their entourages, to pose for their wedding pictures in the public open space.

“Gone for now perhaps, but not forever,” parks manager Ms Dalene Lamprecht counters the complaints received by numerous residents on the state of the gardens.

Ms Lamprecht says the problem is temporary, and the gardens will return to their normal tranquil beauty, once the construction work on the facade of the civic centre is finished.

“Builders have disconnected the sprinkler system which is fed by a municipal borehole, with the prevailing drought, I will not give the go ahead for municipal water to be used to beautify the gardens,” she told the Observer on Wednesday.

All flowering plants have been removed from the front of the civic centre where construction is underway.

Sadly, nothing can be done to recover the towering palm trees, which were set alight by municipal workers on strike weeks ago.

“The trees are luckily not dead and will have to recover naturally,” Ms Lamprecht said.

A soil dressing was also recently spread on the lawns, which adds to the drab demeanor of the stately gardens.

“We cannot water the lawns and the soil dressing makes it look far worse than it will look once construction has ended,” Ms Lamprecht guarantees.

She says a recovery plan is already in place to get the gardens picture perfect, once the borehole is reconnected to the sprinkler system.

“It is presently a matter of saving a precious resource, water,” Ms Lamprecht said.

According to her, its a small, and short term, price to pay.

• Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a number of parks employees announced a go-slow over “unfair employment procedures”.

According to one of the workers, a former municipal employee who resigned in December last year, applied for a new municipal job, was shortlisted and attended an interview last week.

The position for senior pool supervisor was advertised and interviews indeed took place last week, though an appointment has not been formally made.

A number of grievances was however submitted against the man’s application and possible appointment.

“We feel that workers able to fill the position have been overlooked, and this man, who resigned out of his own free will, will be unfairly favoured,” the worker said.

Acting municipal manager, Mr Mandla Mnguni, was unavailable for comment, due to his involvement with a workshop in Pretoria the entire week.

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