For more than six years, residents of Koorsboom Street in Randpark Ridge have watched a persistent underground water problem slowly destroy their neighbourhood, yet a permanent solution remains nowhere in sight.

What began as a concern about water seeping beneath the road has developed into a serious threat to both property and public safety. The continuous flow of underground water has caused extensive damage to the road surface, resulting in large potholes, cracked tar, and sections of roadway lifting and breaking apart. Residents claim the condition of the street has deteriorated significantly over the years, with sinkholes developing as the problem is left unresolved. Motorists are forced to navigate increasingly hazardous road conditions, while homeowners worry about the impact on their properties and the potential loss of value caused by the ongoing damage.

Read more: Sinkhole almost repaired

Chairperson of the Randpark Ridge Village Association (RRVA) Inderan Govender explained that both Medlar Road and Koorsboom Street are dangerous to drive on. On Medlar Road, you can’t drive in the one lane, so you’ve got to wait for traffic from the other side to pass before you can go on the right-hand side to continue. On Koorsboom Street, the entire road seems to be in a bad condition. He added that there has been nothing done by Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) on either roads. “I won’t even call these potholes, they’re more like sinkholes, so it’s still far from repaired.”

JRA confirmed that they are aware of the ongoing deterioration and underground water-related challenges affecting Koorsboom Street and Medlar Road. They have previously undertaken interventions in an effort to mitigate the problem. However, due to the complexity of the ground water infiltration, the failures have continued to reoccur.

Early in May, the entity confirmed that their technical teams were continuing to assess the affected area, in collaboration with relevant municipal stakeholders, to determine the root cause of the subsurface water ingress. That would inform the remedial action to the roadway and surrounding infrastructure. However, there hasn’t been any recent feedback from the entity.

Acting head of regional operations Mpho Maruping said their focus was on monitoring and ensuring that the affected sections of the roadway are safe, conducting further technical investigations, identifying the source of subsurface water, and developing an appropriate long-term rehabilitation solution. While assessments have reportedly been conducted by JRA, no visible long-term repairs or solutions have followed.

Also read: JRA commits to fixing sinkhole

As the road continues to deteriorate and safety concerns increase, residents fear that waiting any longer could lead to more severe infrastructure failures and greater risks for everyone who uses the roads.

Ward 98 councillor Beverley Jacobs said she will continue escalating the issue until action is taken. “This issue first came to my attention in 2022. It has now deteriorated to the point where it will be more costly to the city. I am scared that there’s infrastructure damage going to happen to the properties on either side, and the city will be liable.”

Questions were sent to JRA for update but no comment was received by the time of print.

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