As November’s local government elections draw near, all eyes will be on our municipalities. For some time, South Africans have been facing ongoing challenges like water supply issues, power outages, and other municipal concerns. Among these, potholes remain a particularly frustrating problem for the Randfontein community.

If those in positions of power think this year’s elections will be easy or that their re-election is a sure thing, they might want to think again. Residents are increasingly weary of empty promises, and to maintain support in their communities, political parties will need to follow through on their commitments.

As part of our role in the media, we are committed by the Press Code to hold government accountable. With this in mind, the Randfontein Herald is excited to launch a community campaign.

Resident Martin Brown suggested a creative way to shine a light on these ongoing service delivery issues.

The campaign, titled My Pothole Is Bigger Than Yours, encourages residents to participate by sending in a photo of a pothole, along with details like the street address, area and their name to randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za.

These entries will be featured on the Randfontein Herald’s Facebook page, where the community can vote for the biggest pothole. A new winner will be announced each week.

*Although the above is not a letter in the traditional sense, it is editorial comment written by the editor. As such, the media is protected by the Press Code, particularly Point 7, titled Protected Comment, which states as follows:

7.1 The media shall be entitled to comment upon or criticise any actions or events of public interest; and

7.2 Comment or criticism is protected even if it is extreme, unjust, unbalanced, exaggerated and prejudiced, as long as it is without malice, is on a matter of public interest, has taken fair account of all material facts that are either true or reasonably true, and is presented in a manner that it appears clearly to be comment.