Once A Shining Star going to Pot!

[Michael Alexander]

You have to be blind not to see it....

You have to be a long time Oranjemunder to notice the gradual creep....

I realise that I am no longer standing alone, when other residents start to email me.... voicing their concerns with me in the SPAR.

I did'nt post anything, for fear of being labelled a pessimist , a negative person, but alas, I can no longer keep quiet and the photographs will be forthcoming....

The once proud lawns and parks of this unique town are going to pot....
The once well maintained roads are getting potholes....
In some streets, the sands are creeping over the roads....

Say what you want, but you must be blind not see how almost the entire town has over the last 2 years gradually decayed..... The parks are losing their grass at an alarming rate, large lawns opposite the fourways at the mine store have not been watered in months.... the road into town, once a road to proud about, unique for a desert town, now has large tracts of sandy desert where grass once reigned supreme.... the once dense tree line  now thinned to the extend that they no longer serve their initial purpose...

The newly planted trees next to the liquor warehouse..... are dry .... dying....

After spending the last 50 years investing in this "spog" town.... the powers that be, and the service level controllers must surely have admitted defeat.... and let the ball slip..... you no longer care about something that once made us proud..... you no longer live in a pretty town..... perhaps home for you is still in your villages , cities and farms...... Shame on you....

[SandyB]

TRUE WORDS MIKE --  NOW  ANYONE  IN POWER LURKING ON THIS SITE .. READ  AND GET THE MESSAGE .. HAVE YOU NO PRIDE IN THE TOWN ??
MIKE I THINK ALSO THAT ALL THE CONCERNED CITIZENS SHOULD BAND TOGETHER AND START MAKING THINGS HAPPEN , BRING IN HOSES ,  DO THE JOB THAT OTHERS  DONT SEEM TO WANT TO DO , POST IT ON SOCIAL SITES ...  THE BEFORE AND AFTERS  ALWAYS HAVE VALUE .. EMBARRESS THEM  , HOPEFULLY IT INITIATES  SOME ACTION ...
ONLY ONE THING , DO THEY HAVE A " RATES AND TAXES " SYSTEM IN PLACE YET ?? , COS IF SO THE  GRIPES HAVE MAJOR LEGIT  SWING  , IF NOT SO THEN  THE TOWN MANAGEMENT CAN STATE COST CUTTING  AS AN EXCUSE ,, BUT IF I WAS  STILL THERE I WOULD BE ON THE DIY ROUTE .....

[Michael Alexander]

There are folk working and watering, building fences, sweeping and cutting down dead tree's , so all is not lost, there are parts of the town that do look nice and are still maintained..... it's just that this seem's to be happening more in the CBD of town...... mind you, saw nice weeds growing in the pavement next the AFC.....

[Mike Voden (RIP)]

Mike A, the standard started to drop in the late 90's when outsourcing started to rear it's ugly head and when engineers and others drove through pools of leaking water on the mine road outside the main office block for over six months before the leak was fixed.

Yes and these are only a few examples but the powers to be don't see these issues or are too involved with themselves that they totally ignore the bigger picture. We must also not forget that Namdeb is only interested in it's core operation and that is mining of Diamonds, although with a little effort and with little expense, the once proud dorp of Oranjemund could be brought back to it's former glory

Generally, one of the problems of today is that there is no (or little) pride in what one does and unfortunately Oranjemund falls into that sad era, so come on Management of Oranjemund start the ball rolling and start to bring back that sense of PRIDE to a once PROUD ORANJEMUND

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

Generally, one of the problems of today is that there is no (or little) pride in what one does and unfortunately Oranjemund falls into that sad era, so come on Management of Oranjemund start the ball rolling and start to bring back that sense of PRIDE to a once PROUD ORANJEMUND


So so true Mike V and so well said.

[Mike Stenson (RIP)]

The desert is going to take this town back slowly but surely.... inch by inch....mm by mm...... expect sand storms 6 months after we start paying for water. 

[Michael Alexander]

The other gardening pointer being discussed  this morning in the office, is the amount of clover that covers the existing lawns and parks ...... in the old days there was a schedule for spraying the lawns, all we get these days is the odd guy once in a blue moon spraying.... that is everywhere....

At the 5th avenue park nearest the police station, a plastic water pipe has been lying in the road for the last 2 years, the chaps that cut the grass are just churning up sand, as the edges of that specific park are not being watered....

[Michael Alexander]

As an afterthought, seeing all the teams doing cleaning up in the CBD can be attributed to either (1) The newly appointed Engineer overseeing the town or (2) The Knobby types coming to town midweek.....

[Mike Voden (RIP)]

Yep ,Mike A it must be your number 2, get an important person to visit the town and there will be a quick tidy up but what happens when they leave..........?????????, absolutely nothing and the town's appearance goes back to it's old lifeless state.......

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

Having not visited my town in quite some time well quite a long time....I'll just have to braai this week-end.  YES......looking at recent photograph's and going on what a few people that still live there have told me......I can well believe the standard has dropped dropped dropped and dropped. Perhaps I should visit.....you think I'm important enough for them to and water.       

[Michael Alexander]

Hehehe! Saw the guy in the yellow suit today, armed with a spray gun, destroying the on the lawns in the CDB of the town...... gave me stare down...... I wondered..... no, no don't go there....

[Mike Voden (RIP)]

No Doubt he wondered what he was looking at Mike A     

[Simon Mason]

The famous Yeti ??????

[Michael Alexander]

That Yeti only appears when the POH Bar get's opened on a Friday night....   

[Adriaan Van Rooyen]

apparently new fences have been erected to keep the yeti at bay