It seems the Lowveld is notorious for an ugly addition to its natural beauty; the roads’ many potholes.

In the latest beg-plead-urge situation between taxpaying residents and the City of Mbombela (CoM), the potholes next to White River Primary School are continuing to pose a severe danger. Despite the continuous reappearance of the badly repaired holes on the corner of Tom Lawrence and Danie Joubert streets, the CoM is mum on the issue.

The motorists claim this is a tactic that seems to have become the norm, in the hope that if nothing is said, the problem will disappear or the residents will fix it themselves. With the schools already open, the residents deem these potholes a disaster-in-waiting.

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They claim to have been reporting this issue to the CoM for a long time, and say the municipality always pleads poverty.
In the meantime, these potholes have become part of the many municipal problems this once thriving and beautiful town have to deal with on a continuous basis and that, despite paying taxes, the residents have to address without any help from the CoM.

One of the community members, Hennie van Zyl, said the entire road needs to be resurfaced, because the area with the potholes has been a problem for a long time, and the municipality had fixed it before, although it always takes a long time before they do anything about it. “The problem is that after they have fixed it, it lasts but a few weeks before it gets blown out again, which shows that the road needs to be rebuilt. Cars, including mine, have been damaged on several occasions. I also reported the matter to the municipality, but I have accepted that they will fix it when it suits them, and I am now trying to avoid the road at all times,” he said.

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Another motorist who is a regular user of the road in question, Simphie Ntombela, said the municipality is not taking the residents and the motorists seriously. “The potholes are in front of the school where most parents are dropping their kids. The road is also used by tourists heading to the Kruger National Park and the Panorama Route. So I think the municipality needs to prioritise fixing the road, because it’s not safe as some drivers end up driving in oncoming traffic,” she said.

Cherryl de Beer said: “Most of the municipality officials who reside in White River know about the potholes, but none of them want to do something about them. Since last year the potholes have been there, making it difficult and dangerous for motorists to drive on the road, but nothing has happened. I have called the municipality several times with the hope that they will fix it, but nothing has happened. I think they need to take us seriously and repair it,” she said.

The CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, had not answered the newspaper’s queries by the time of publishing.