Every now and again, residents unhappy with service providers opt to take matters into their own hands with a sentiment of ‘if you want something done at all, do it yourself’.

Driving along Bruyn Road in Noordheuwel and attempting to turn left into Russel Street, you’d either need to do a bit of off-roading in the left lane, or drive into the opposite lane just to get through.

Smaller vehicles, specifically, had some difficulties accessing the road as there is quite a large heap of soil in the middle of the road at the T-junction of the two streets.

Maryna Oesterlein, whose house is on this corner, explained that the Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) workers arrived a few months ago to repair a pipe underneath the road. Before they left, she claimed, workers filled up the hole with loose soil and left it as is, creating a sizable bump in the road.

“Everyone in the street is up in arms,” Maryna said, noting that she and other residents decided to pay for repairs from their own pockets, hiring a worker to wheelbarrow away the soil to a open field up the road. It took quite a few trips until they came to the road surface, at which point they could determine how much cement would be needed to fill it up properly.

According to MCLM the inquiry has been escalated to the relevant municipal department.