Concerned residents of Everest Park in Wesselton are voluntarily fixing potholes in the township to the relief of motorists.
The Iyalunga’indlela Group, consisting of nine men and a woman, took it upon themselves to fix the state of the roads.
What began as a need to fix their own street in Everest Park which was riddled with potholes, has blossomed into a movement.
Messrs Ntokozo Vilakazi, Suprise Nkosi, Thulani Msibi and Ms Lindiwe Vilakazi came up with the idea of fixing the roads and began on 20 February.
More residents joined after seeing the results of such an initiative and the group now has more than 10 members.
They are regular faces in the streets of Wesselton, fixing potholes in Nomdeni (Autumn Ridge), Thusiville and Tembisa.
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Their aim is to fix the main routes going into Wesselton where the roads are severely dilapidated.
However, they have a different way of fixing the potholes than the Msukaligwa Municipality’s temporary solution of gravel.
With bricks and the little tools they have, the group fills up the potholes with bricks and concrete.
If no asphalt is available, Msukaligwa fills the potholes with gravel as a temporary measure, until permanent repairs can be done with cold asphalt.
A solution, the spokesman of the group, Mr Ntokozo Vilakazi, does not agree with.
“When you fill a pothole with gravel or sand, it washes away during the rainy season and causes the blockage of storm drains,” he says.
“Then it is back to square one with a pothole still in the road and an even worse problems with blocked drains.”
However, Msukaligwa’s spokesman, Mr Mandla Zwane, says the gravel that is used is a Ferricrete gravel and of good quality material, most commonly used for road construction in gravel and tar roads.
“The material is watered and compacted to reduce water ingress in rainy situations,” Mr Zwane said.
He further added this is just a temporary solution until such a time that the road can be rebuild.
Msukaligwa Municipality’s roads are riddled with potholes with major traffic routes affected.
Mr Zwane said due to the extreme weather, particularly the torrential rainfall we are currently experiencing, high volumes of load-bearing traffic and ageing road infrastructure are some of the contributory factors to the creation of potholes.
The municipality have made a request for assistance from Gert Sibande District Municipality (GSDM), the provincial government and the power utility giant, Eskom, in order to rebuild the roads.
The responses are still pending from these institutions.
Mr Zwane did however his appreciation to the volunteering group as they have taken it upon themselves to assist the municipality in patching the potholes without any financial or personal gain.
“Any person with any assistance in a form of expertise and material is welcome to approach the Municipal Manager’s office because together we can do more,” he concluded.
These words will be welcomed by the group who are struggling with resources, mainly the bricks and tools to work with.
“We encourage anybody to join us because this town is ours and it is up to us to make it better,” Mr Vilakazi said.
Until then, they will continue with what they have to make the roads of Wesselton easier and safer to navigate.
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