The Tshwane metro has responded to complaints of non-service delivery to a dilapidated road in Monavoni.

City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo confirmed that the complaints about potholes in the street had been closed and were escalated to another department.

“The work entails more than pothole patching. As such it was escalated to the Roads and Stormwater Asset Management Section to consider reconstruction,” Mashigo told Rekord.

He said that the road condition was assessed in April 2021.

“The road was found to be in a poor condition with no proper pavement layers and it requires an upgrade to an acceptable standard.

Unfortunately, the road cannot be resurfaced as it was never constructed in accordance with the required standards.”

He explained that there was no firm base layer or pavement to work from.

“There are [also] serious stormwater challenges which will compromise any form of resurfacing work that can be done.”

Rekord previously reported on residents of Monavoni saying they are living a nightmare as their street has gone without any maintenance from the metro for years.

Avril Ventress moved into her Hjelm Avenue home in 1990 and said she could not remember when the road was last resurfaced.

“I’ve been here for 34 years, I never thought I would stay in one place for this long.”

As time went on, the street began to degrade, and the residents’ pleas for assistance fell on deaf ears.

In January 2020, Ventress finally got a reference number for their complaint about the road.

“At the time, we were told the case was sent to the roads department,” she said.

“Since then we have been told many times – that it has been taken up, that something will be done – but nothing ever happens.

At one stage, they came and did the first few metres of the road, and then they closed the complaint,” she said.

The road is one of many problems that the residents of this street have to endure.

Streetlights have not worked for several years, petty crime is rampant and a waste sorting site suspected of disposing of meat and animal carcasses has brought crows to the area.

“This is zoned as a high-density residential area. But we have two churches here, so there are big volumes using this road.

I feel like I have been fighting with these people for years,” Ventress told Rekord.

“We pay our rates and taxes just like everyone else, but we don’t get the services like everyone else.

“This is really the ‘nightmare on Hjelm Street’ – it just doesn’t end.”

Another Hjelm Avenue resident, Patrick van der Merwe, said the potholes caused damage to cars, especially on weekends when the churches attracted many parishioners.

“It used to be that you had to drive carefully down the road and aim for the better parts, but there isn’t a better part anymore.

Over the last 15 years or so, it feels like we have made hundreds of complaints. But nobody ever responds really.”

Van der Merwe said the streetlights haven’t worked for 16 years, while cable theft often meant that residents were left without power.

The residents of the street have taken it into their hands to install their own power boxes in the street that are difficult to break into.

Informal businesses frequently set up shop in the area, and residents explained they have had to deal with various issues arising from this.

“We even had a brothel under the trees for a while. We could see them from our garden.

They eventually left, but it is quite lawless out here.”

In April 2022, the residents said their complaint case was closed without explanation.

Ventress said she attempted to find out why the request was closed after only a few metres of road were resurfaced but did not receive a response.

Also Read: Two girls burnt to death while sleeping as suspects run amok in Soshanguve. 

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