Pothole causes flat tyre for motorist

The ability to drive around a pothole while remembering the rules of a four-way stop during load shedding is a skill that only South Africans have had to learn.

Although there are always learning curves, Linda van Schalkwyk had to call her husband for assistance after recently hitting a pothole in Esselen Street. “I am one of those women who are completely clueless about cars, so you can only imagine my fear when I dived hard into the pothole and experienced a flat tyre. It could have been much worse, like a burst tyre or even severe damage to the rim. Fortunately, it only caused a slow puncture, but I still had to call my husband, who was at work, to assist with changing it,” she said.

Although Linda experienced a minor inconvenience, she says it does not take away from the fact that Potchefstroom full of potholes and only getting worse. “Besides posing a serious threat to the safety of motorists, hitting a pothole can potentially damage crucial vehicle components and set you back financially when you get your vehicle repaired,” she lamented. “The municipality needs to take us seriously and give us the services we pay for,” she added.

Jeanette Tshite, the acting municipal spokesperson, says the municipality is busy appointing consultants to undertake assessments, designs and implementation for some of the roads. “Regarding the maintenance of potholes on Esselen Street, the Roads and Storm Water team had gone out to attend to some of the very problematic areas in terms of potholes,” she said.

“They are still busy with patching work on some roads.” In a previous article on potholes, Tshite said the municipality had made provisions in the budget to construct new roads and reseal and rehabilitate existing roads in past financial years.

“The pothole patching programme has also been an ongoing municipal maintenance programme,” she said. At the time, 33 service providers had been appointed. Sixty-six local SMMEs and approximately 165 labourers had already assumed their allocated sites to fix roads throughout J.B. Marks. Another three contractors were appointed to start upgrading the critical roads identified.