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| A road by any other name. |
by
05 February 2010
A road by any other name
Dear Fever
There have been many controversial stories about Monkey Road (Sandalwood Road) in Umzinto. This short road of approximately 500 metres, joins the important road leading to Hazelwood and Glendinagar at the clinic and heads to Umzinto High School and down to the Highway.
There is a long history to it. In fact, I could call it the most important ‘short cut’, linking up those of us living in the north, with Umzinto town and the ‘outside world’. Whenever we have heavy rains and the water rises over the little bridge at the testing grounds, cutting us off from the town, Monkey Road is the only exit and saviour.
If one speaks to any of the old ‘Umzintonians’ living here in excess of 30 years, they will tell you that, as they made their way to school along this sandy road, troops of monkeys would play in the sand and scamper along it, hence the name.
To my knowledge, none of the older residents were ever consulted when deciding on road names and whoever ‘named’ this road Sandalwood did so sitting in his office without a sandalwood in sight.
Somebody sneered in the press recently about “what would visitors think about a road named after a monkey” yet roads in small towns bear the names of antelopes, small animals and birds so what’s so degrading about a monkey? To many Hindus, the monkey is a symbol of the Monkey God Hanuman so I feel that it is a very powerful name meant for this small but powerful and significant road.
And, as the attached picture shows, whatever the loftier authorities may call it, the people working on the road call it Monkey Road, and so do we.
Rob van Amstel
Umzinto
Tree ‘butchered’.
Dear Fever
I would like to draw attention to the damage that has been done to the big fig tree at
the top of Marlin Drive in Pennington. This damage was presumably done by the municipality, particularly since it stands on the sidewalk, on municipal ground. However, the part of the tree that was cut is over an open part of the property below, so there is no obvious rationale for cutting this tree.
I was born in Pennington in 1970, just after its proclamation as a municipal area and I am told that I was nicknamed the ‘Kelso Kid’, because I was the first child to be born in what is today known as Pennington. After school, I left for Gauteng and 17 years later, I have returned to raise my children in this well- preserved piece of Eden.
I am eternally grateful to all involved in the conservational efforts to preserve Pennington’s fauna and flora. We are privileged to see many species of birds return to this area, and it is largely attributable to the protection of our trees – which form such an integral part of most species’ survival and ecology.
Here is some detail regarding the fig tree, which, to my mind, should be a tourist attraction and should be protected. Pennington used to belong to old Mr Abrahams, before the farm was sold and divided into municipal properties in the late 60’s. I bought my house from Neville Evans, who told me that old Mr Abrahams’ son came to visit one day.
The property where our house is built used to be the place where they out-spanned with their ox-wagon before crossing the river. Neville said that when he built here, he found old coal stoves and horseshoes. The reason why old Mr Abrahams’ son (aged 80) could find the exact spot is due to the ‘big old fig tree - which according to his memory – was already a big tree when he was a boy. This bit of history dates the tree at well over a hundred years old!
Furthermore, this tree is about 4-5 storeys tall and houses many animal species which feed on it, from fruit bats to the large flock of hornbills which frequent the area. This tree is visible from the highway, the sea and from the Pennington side as well as from the hill beyond Abrahams Crest.
This tree has now been cut back to such an extent that I would say about 25% of the tree has been lost. The branches that were cut off are thicker than the boughs of most standard trees in this area. The photo shows only some of the major lower branches that have been cut.
Kind regards,
Cobus du Plessis Pennington
Some justice system!
Dear Fever,
Please shed some light on a disturbing aspect of your crime round-up article. I read in it that a holidaymaker was robbed of a camera and that the police caught two culprits and retrieved the stolen camera but then had to let the culprits go because too much time had elapsed! Does not sound like justice is being done. What on earth is happening to our justice system?
Keith Lowe
Pennington
What clean-up?
Dear Fever
As a nearby resident, I have to ask the Ratepayers’ Association who, I understand, master-minded the recent clean-up along the railway line in Pennington, what have they achieved in Mpathle Road except to exchange a stretch of attractive natural bush into a heap of dead rubbish and, in the process, to permanently damage several indigenous trees and a considerable indigenous shrubbery under the trees.
The Ratepayers Association is always quick to criticise the Municipality for bad service so they can’t argue when their own poor service is pointed out to them.
M. Brown
Pennington
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