Hole in Barberton’s Boom Street turning into a nightmare
On May 2, Lucas Venter drove into the hole with his car and had to be towed out. Workers of Umjindi Municipality then cordoned off the road with a boom gate of sorts and several cement blocks to prevent a repeat of the incident.
The huge pothole in Boom Street, which Barberton Times wrote about in our issue of May 7, has deteriorated even further.
On May 2, Lucas Venter drove into the hole with his car and had to be towed out. Workers of Umjindi Municipality then cordoned off the road with a boom gate of sorts and several cement blocks to prevent a repeat of the incident.
However, someone in the vicinity keeps removing the makeshift boom. On top of that, a timber truck dumped its load into the hole approximately three weeks ago. The pothole, which runs straight into the road and was caused by the heavy rains on December 28, is now even less noticeable in the shade.
“It has now become such a danger that we fear something even worse than before might happen,” said resident of the area, Johan van Tonder.
Another resident, who lives across the street from the gaping hole, agreed.
Upon Barberton Times’ return to the office, we phoned the office of Comfort Makhanya, Umjindi director of community services, to find out when they planned on fixing this hole.
We were informed by his secretary that he would only be back the next week. We were also told that acting in his absence was Stanley Nkabinde, head of Umjindi Traffic Department.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach Nkabinde, we were informed that he was taking part in Mandela Day activities and was not available. Hopefully, Makhanya will be able to shed light on his matter upon his return.
