Khutsong residents’ worst fear became true this week when a sinkhole collapsed next to a site left open by a contractor of the Merafong City Local Municipality.

The Herald reported last week that residents were very concerned about a large trench that was left open by a municipal contractor near the old Teacher’s Quarters in Khayalethu in Khutsong.

To make matters worse, the trench was left open only metres away from three existing sinkholes. The municipality failed to provide answers on why the contractor had left the site before the work was completed.

The biggest fear was that water could accumulate in the open trench and cause another sinkhole.

This is exactly what happened on December 2, when a sinkhole caved in on the side of the contractor’s excavations.

“I was here at home when I heard a noise. When I looked out, I saw the ground had fallen in. I was very scared, and my heart still does not feel right,” says the shocked pensioner whose house is next to the sinkhole, Dorah Motladile (72).

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSPYTuS5h/

The sinkhole swallowed the front of Motladile’s yard, and two minibus taxis belonging to her son were hanging on the edge of the sinkhole. The taxis were parked next to the family’s front porch, which was also literally hanging in the air after the sinkhole caved in.

Motladile was very worried that she would lose her house, which was built in 1980 by her late husband, David, with money he had accumulated by working at Western Deep Levels. She lives in the house with her three children and four grandchildren.

“What happened here could have easily been prevented. The contractors were busy excavating when they cracked the manhole, and the sewage started leaking out.

This is very poor service,” says Motladile’s neighbour, Elias Mkhabela.

According to Mkhabela and another close neighbour, Thapelo Machona, residents saw that the contractor, instead of fixing the damaged manhole and pipe, just wanted to cover it with ground and pretend that there were no problems. As they knew that this would cause a sinkhole, the community stopped this work.

A local leader from the NGO MACUA (Mining Affected Communities United in Action), Bethuel Magwebu, who also stays close by, vowed to get this organisation’s legal team involved in the issue, as the municipality has, up to now, not compensated residents for the damage caused by them or their contractors. Instead, they promise the residents whose homes are affected by sinkholes low-cost houses, which are much smaller than the homes lost to sinkholes.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSPYTu46B/

Meanwhile, the MMC for Public Safety, Lebogang Mangaliso, who was overseeing the action to get the two taxis out of the sinkhole, said he is not supporting the removal of people from their houses damaged by sinkholes.

“The municipality must rather use the money from the new houses to replace the old and leaking pipes in Khutsong,” he said.

Although the Herald sent questions to the municipality, their marketing and communication manager, Temba Fezani, did not reply. The municipality has, however, since covered the sinkhole and covered the trench left behind by the contractor. The damaged manhole is still open.