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What started as bush clearing degenerated into massive maiming and destruction of trees in Anderson and Munnik Street in Makhado (Louis Trichrdt) last week.

Public outcry after “maiming”of trees

 

A new and  different, more positive approach to the pruning of trees under electricity lines in Makhado (Louis Trichardt) can be expected now and in future.

Makhado's municipal manager, Mr Isaac Mutshinyali, reacted swiftly to a public outcry at the beginning of the bush-clearing operation which got underway towards the end of last week in Munnik and Anderson Street in town.

Teams acting on behalf of the municipality's electricity department attacked all trees in the immediate proximity of  the town's electricity lines along the streets, indiscriminately ripping off branches and stripping branches and trunks, leaving a grotesque, spooky lane of  splintered and torn-away  tree trunks.

Members of the public expressed outrage in telephone calls to this newspaper about the obviously unprofessional treatment of the trees.

Mutshinyali was informed of this. His attention was drawn to the fact that the bush-clearing operation in town was degenerating into an unacceptable, massive maiming and destruction of the town's trees. Even trees which were originally planted by the municipality on the pavements were simply cut off and destroyed. He received the news with equal concern and immediately took positive action. He reacted by expressing his appreciation for the public concern for the town's environment and immediately ordered a rethink and replanning of this operation necessary to safeguard the electricity network.

The municipality published a notice last week that the electricity supply will be interrupted from 1 April to 31 October this year on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 08:00 to 16:00, in pre-notified street blocks to enable municipal employees to do bush clearing of the overhead low-voltage power lines in town. It states that all high-risk vegetation up to three metres from the centre of the power line will be removed and that the clearing of the vegetation is aimed at improving the quality of the supply and services, as well as to maintain street lighting to promote the general security of residents.

 

Date:17 April 2014

By: Frans van der Merwe

Frans van der Merwe is a freelance journalist with more than 40 years experience in the newspaper industry. Apart from newspaper reporting, he was also involved with radio news, news reading, training and marketing. He has been living and working in Louis Trichardt since 1991.

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