Two years after a wide sinkhole opened up between Delmas Road (provincial R50) and Pretoria Roads near Bapsfontein, the provincial government said it was still busy procuring service providers to undertake repairs.

The widening sinkhole was first reported in October 2019 and the Gauteng department of roads and transport then began inspections of the site for possible solutions and closed the road to ensure the safety of motorists.

Two years later, after the closure of the road, a motorist was injured after driving into the sinkhole last week Sunday, due to a lack of standing barriers.

Emer-G-Med spokesperson, Kyle van Reenen, said there were no standing barriers around the wide sinkhole to warn drivers of the possible danger.

Photos from the accidents show some of the barriers were inside the hole.

Despite this, department spokesperson, Theo Nkonki, said that the barricades and signage warning motorists of road closure were still installed.

“The barricades are installed at both approaches of the sinkhole site, as well as signage warning motorists of road closure,” Nkonki said.

Nkonki said signage warning motorists of the road closure was visible at both approaches to the sinkhole to ensure the safety of motorists.

He said there had not been any fatal accidents reported due to the sinkhole.

“The department is currently busy with procurement of service providers to undertake repairs,” he said.

Paramedics also warned that there were no streetlights near the sinkhole which posed a danger for motorists driving at night. Nkonki confirmed that the department was aware of this.

Pretoria resident Louise-Marié Wessels described it as a “death trap” for motorists driving at night as there was no lights near the sinkhole.

“I recently drove past the road as I thought it had been fixed but the conditions have worsened.

“The hole which started almost at the centre of the road has now extended even to the nearby farm land.”

Wessels said she first travelled on the provincial road from Pretoria to Mpumalanga last year April.

“Then you could still drive on one side of the road and pass through. There were barricades and pointsmen who assisted us to get through.

“I did not realise there was a sinkhole and the guys assisted me because they might have thought I was a resident there,” she said.

This was not the conditions she met when driving through the sinkhole last Saturday.

“I recently drove past there thinking that the problem was solved but it was not.

“To our horror, we found that the sinkhole has extended across the road. The barricades that were there had either been demolished or removed and there were no pointsmen anymore.

“Most parts of the road were eroded and we had to use a small shoulder of the road to pass but other motorists had to take a detour.”

Wessels said she had to take a detour on her way back because the road used by the motorists of the area was “too risky”.

“It is just a gaping hole in the ground that is not barricaded which is what is worrying for most motorists and no one seems to know what is the cause of delay in the construction of that road. It has been two years.”

Wessels said the detour to other roads was inconvenient for motorists.

“It is quite a detour but necessary because the risk is just too much driving pass there. Motorists are fed-up because it is a main road and has not been fixed for two years.

“The issue on the road (Delmas) is not just the sinkhole but there are also horrible potholes. It is a duck and dive situation. You get parts that are absolutely beautiful and other parts are bad to drive in.”

Following the accident, some residents took to social media to warn motorists of the sinkhole and a few motorists shared that they also had accidents at the same sinkhole.

In October 2019, the department announced the closure of the road due to the sinkhole. Access was given to residents of the area only.

It indicated engineers would conduct studies for a sustainable solution, but no date was set for repairing the road.

Motorists in and around the area were advised to make use of a detour route D781 which is a gravel route linking R50 road to the R25 route.