“We were at home at about 19:00 last night when we heard a man call, ‘help me, help me!’ We immediately went to check what was going on,” said one of the residents of Sompani Road in Khutsong’s Batswaneng Section on Monday.
When the residents went to have a look, they saw that the man had accidentally fallen into a sinkhole on the sidewalk. The sidewalk caved in at this particular site because the streetlight had collapsed into the sinkhole, leaving a gaping hole on the sidewalk.
“We called the police, and they called the fire department, who came and rescued the man,” says the resident.
It is unknown how badly the man was injured.
Residents of this street have lived in fear for over a year after several sinkholes caved in on the road. Numerous houses also had to be abandoned.
Despite this, none of the sinkholes has been rehabilitated yet.
By Monday afternoon, only the sinkhole into which the man had fallen had been cordoned off with police barrier tape. As Sompani Road is the only tarred road and the most notable access road to the area, school children and other pedestrians regularly walk through this dangerous area.
Although the Herald sent related questions to the Merafong City Local Municipality on Monday, the latter did not provide any answers.