The other day I took a drive around Kagiso and in all honesty I was disturbed by the number of potholes there are in the area, some of which don’t even deserve to be called potholes any more – they are literally trenches, based on their depth and size.
The holes on Kutlwanong Street are particularly bad. I drive on that road every day, and there are many school children who walk to school in the mornings along that road, while many motorists drive to work. The sad reality that a motorist could easily try to dodge a pothole and hit a school child by mistake proves the high level of negligence and lack of care that the local municipality has towards the safety of not only the children of Kagiso, whom we are supposed to nurture and protect as our beacons of hope, but also shows the blatant disregard for the owners of vehicles that reside in Kagiso. These are the people who suffer tremendously in terms of burst tyres, accidents and wheel alignment issues due to the existing potholes.
Local governments are responsible for providing services such as refuse and sewage removal and disposal, storm water drainage systems, municipal roads and street lighting. The country’s Constitution and laws clearly state that municipal officials are accountable to ensure good governance, and that failure do so could lead to disciplinary or criminal proceedings.
The maintenance of roads is clearly a function that lies within the scope and responsibility of the local municipality, yet it is a function that has been blatantly ignored, which indicates a deep-rooted municipal failure to perform some of its most basic functions. Some residents have attempted to close some of these potholes using sand and cement, which effectively means that residents have in this sense taken over the responsibility of the municipality.
Perhaps the pervasive idea is to always let things deteriorate whenever it isn’t election season and fix them before elections in a bid to garner votes? Or is this purely a reflection of a dysfunctional municipality?
The lack of provision of these basic services or rather the lack of infrastructure maintenance has serious ramifications.
Some of these ramifications include, but are not limited to, a highly frustrated and disgruntled citizenry; however, more importantly – it opens conversations on the credibility, commitment and legitimacy of the Mogale City administration insofar as the performance of its most basic functions.
