POLOKWANE – Nirvana residents are angry and frustrated with the municipality not reacting to their cry for help with the potholes in their neighbourhood.
The residents said they had been complaining to the municipality since February about the potholes, but nothing was being done to fix the problem.
“Every street in Nirvana has potholes. This is unacceptable. In February when Review reported on the matter the municipality said there is a team working on the roads in Nirvana. The so-called team only patched certain roads and in some of the streets they would patch one corner and skip the next corner. These potholes, especially at night, cause damage to our vehicles,” a resident said.
One of the residents took Review on a trip through Nirvana to show how bad the potholes were. The journalist experienced a bumpy ride as the driver had to swerve around the potholes, and in some places could not be avoided. In some streets, the potholes were so bad the driver had to drive on the wrong side of the road.
“What must Nirvana residents do to get the municipality to help us? They are busy repairing roads in other areas, but not in small neighbourhoods like Nirvana. Recently Marshall Street was repaired, so why can’t they properly fix our roads.”
A business owner in Nirvana said the pothole crisis was causing him to lose business.
“Customers are not happy to come to my shop because they complain about the potholes. There are huge potholes in front of the supermarket and there is nothing we can do about it, because the road is municipal property. Something needs to be done soon, because we cannot go on like this. The municipality preaches about how they strive to give good service, but it seems to us that this rule only applies to certain residents or parts of the city,” the man said.
Malesela Maubane, municipal spokesperson, said the municipality was committed to ensuring all municipal roads were in good condition. “We are putting in place measures for maintenance of our roads. The challenge is that most of our roads have exceeded their design lifespan, requiring about R400 million to rehabilitate the existing roads. In terms of the Nirvana situation we will look into it, ensuring that monitoring and evaluation is enhanced,” Maubane said.
