JRA condemns road repair in Broadacres
According to the Johannesburg Roads Agency, "any repairing of the city's roads by civilians is illegal".
Road repairs are the jurisdiction of the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), and residents may not take matters into their own hands, regardless of how good their intentions may be.
This is according to JRA spokesperson Bertha Peters-Scheepers.
But, being unemployed means that 34-year-old Stephen Kgole has time on his hands.
The Broadacres resident balances job hunting with active citizenship. Born in Mokopane, Limpopo, Kgole relocated to the City of Gold to look for work. He discovered just how tough city living was and became one of the 45.3% of unemployed youth in South Africa. “Things are really tough; there are no jobs,” he said.
While job hunting, he noticed that Haven Road, nearby his home, was in a shocking condition. Rather than sit idle, he decided to do something about it. For the past three months, he has made it his duty to attend to the road. More than 150m of the road has never been tarred.
The untarred section of road falls between a number of developments, which have taken it upon themselves to tar the section of road in front of their properties as they are being built. Because some of the land remains undeveloped, some sections of the road remain untarred.
This untarred patch of road is what Kgole has been working to improve.
His efforts have not gone unnoticed. Community members started to assist where they could. Truck drivers and contractors delivered rubble to level the surface and make sure that he had the heavy equipment needed to get the job done.
“In January, I started doing some work on the road. The more I worked on it, the more residents gave me help and support,” said Kgole.
“Some would ask me which company I work for as I always wear reflective gear. They appreciate the help I am giving, even though they get frustrated when it is wet because it becomes muddy.”
Suren Naidoo has lived in the area for 10 years and commended the hard work and improvements being done by Kgole.
“The road is far better now. There were a lot of potholes. What is amazing is that he arranged for all the rubble and material he needed to be delivered here. He used his own initiative which then made the road level.
“It was difficult to even walk here with all the puddles of water everywhere,” said Naidoo.
Although Kgole tried to channel the water away from the road, given that the area is fairly swampy, Naidoo said when it rains heavily, ‘all his hard work gets washed away and he has to start all over again’.
According to Peters-Scheepers, JRA by-laws state that the roads of the various road networks in the City of Johannesburg are the responsibility of the designated entities. Only these entities may carry out repairs on the roads under their jurisdiction. “The Public Road and Miscellaneous by-laws for the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality do not make provisions or allow civilians to repair the city’s roads. This means any repairing of the city’s roads by civilians is illegal,” she said.
Asked whether he knew if his actions were in contravention of the by-laws, Kgole said he wasn’t sure, but that he felt his work was a necessary service to his community and a positive way to give back.
Naidoo said given the JRA’s feedback, Kgole would have to comply, but that they should then continue to apply pressure on JRA to complete the work Kgole started, within a specified period of time.
The busy road services a school, a hospital, and the community.
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