Mamelodi’s Tsamaya Road now free of potholes

There will be no more arriving late for work because of massive potholes, which frustrated motorists and taxi drivers, on a road in Mamelodi.

This was after taxi associations in Mamelodi and stakeholders, together with local councillors officially opened the part of Tsamaya Road from Phase 2 Railway Line Bridge to Mams mall, on Tuesday afternoon.

The opening of the road is part of the construction and upgrade of the multi-million rand K54 road that links the R104 (old Bronkhorstspruit Road) to Solomon Mahlangu Road.

Tsamaya Road is the main road in Mamelodi used by taxi drivers, buses, motorists and school transports.

Local motorists and taxi drivers used to call it “the never-ending project”, known for its massive potholes causing serious damage to their vehicles. They sometimes had to use alternative roads to avoid potholes.

Mamelodi taxi association chairperson Ben Maredi said the association had to intervene following complaints they received from motorists and taxi drivers about the road.

He said the potholes were so many that motorists were no longer using the road and preferred alternative routes to get to their destinations.

“We started to communicate with local ward councillors about the road and they told us that the provincial government is working on it.

“As the taxi industry, we were also affected. Thus, we took it upon ourselves to approach the transport MEC’s offices to hand over a memorandum demanding speeding up fixing the road,” said Maredi.

“They listened and today we are proud to see Tsamaya Road running smoothly.”

He said the local route committee controlled traffic almost every day while the road was being fixed for almost three months.

This committee consisted of members of the Mamelodi Amalgamated Taxi Association (Mata) and the Mamelodi Local and Long-distance Taxi Association (Malldta)

“We want to thank all the motorists and the community for being patient. We also want to ask those who protest for service delivery not to damage the road with burning tyres.

“Protests and frustrations of service delivery must be taken to the relevant people or department – not to the streets,” he added.

Lubbicon Civils worked with Mahcon Company to fix the road in record time.

George Mashishi from Lubbicon Civils said they started fixing the potholes in mid-March.

He said he was proud that they met the deadline.

“The project started by removing all the car washes on Tsamaya Road because water ruins the base and once it’s ruined, it will cause potholes,” said Mashishi.

Taxi driver Jack Mthobeni said driving on the road was a nightmare “as our vehicles were damaged almost every day”.

Last year around November, Tumelo Sibanyoni was a victim of massive potholes after his car hit a pothole causing extensive damage estimated at R40 000.

Motorist Thembi Majokane said they will now be on time for work and school.

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