WATCH: Foreseeable doom – will someone die before something gets done?
Since the surfacing of several independent sand mines at the Keerom Spruit on the N11, community members now have more to fret over, other than the deliberate and unaccounted for damage, being done to the ravine's water banks.
Members of the farming community, helplessly stood by to watch one of the district’s lifelines being gouged up, as legal and illegal capitalists alike, delve for precious sand.
Following the forced closure of the Department of Mineral Resources in e’Malahleni, due to corruption, a local businessman waited patiently for his mining licence to be issued.
As he held back, a number of other illegal miners continued to dig up the Keerom banks, without a care in the world.
Out on the N11, just after the weighbridge, miners have grown tired of using the existing gravel road en route to Avalon, and the fencing along the busy national road was disassembled, where a new gravel road has been haphazardly created.
The small mines, barely visible from the road, have large trucks ferrying sand, leaving frequently from the gap in the fence.
Motorists who travel the road often, are complaining about the dangers of having multiple, heavy-duty mining trucks turn in and out at the dangerous location, without warning.
A farmer in the community, in a bid to warn other motorists, shared photos of a truck driving into the direction of oncoming traffic, as the driver left the exit.
www.mobserver.co.za visited the scene, where it was discovered that the unofficial exit is situated on a bend, with a solid line.
Over five trucks were seen travelling in and out of the gap in the fence, within a time-frame of 40 minutes, all of which travel into the oncoming lane, before accumulating enough speed to merge with the correct lane.
