Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) CEO Zweli Nyathi said collapsing roads and sinkholes caused by illegal mining activities fall outside the entity’s jurisdiction and instead lie with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

This comes after the entity, alongside MMC for Transport Kenny Kunene and other stakeholders, conducted an oversight visit to roads that have long collapsed due to illegal mining and have repeatedly been reported by residents over the years.

The visit started at Nick Toomey Boulevard in Wilfordon, where cables believed to be powering illegal mining operations were pointed out during the inspection.

Also read: ‘No budget to repair Witpoortjie Estate sinkholes’, says JRA

Another stop was at Witpoortjie Estate, where residents have been forced to use an unregistered road because the entrance to their complex has been affected by a large and growing sinkhole. A business near the complex was also forced to close due to the issue.

“One of the main aims of this oversight is to show where our powers end, because going further down, it becomes a mining issue. Our mandate ends at 30cm,” said Nyathi.

He added that the matter has since been escalated to the department and is now receiving attention.

“As we speak, there is a mayoral committee process underway, and it is going to be multi-departmental, including the South African National Defence Force, which will assist us in fighting the scourge of illegal mining,” he said.

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Nyathi said illegal mining activities are costing the City of Johannesburg millions and that JRA does not have the budget to deal with the extent of the damage, with Roodepoort being one of the hardest-hit areas.

Residents confronted Kunene about the prolonged delays in addressing the matter.

“We have a problem with insurance companies when repairing our vehicles because we are using an unregistered gravel road. We started reporting this issue in 2022, and there are two sinkholes inside a park where our children play. It’s very risky,” one resident said to the Roodepoort Record.

She added that residents are losing hope that anything will be done, and this is another cheap electioneering scheme.

Also read: Five sinkholes in Roodepoort await budget for repairs

In response to this, Nyathi said the prolonged delays to this are because it’s a private area as well, but there’s going to be a headway in giving them an access road.

At another stop in the Roodepoort CBD, the team visited a butchery where illegal miners allegedly dug underground tunnels into the business’s premises.

The butchery manager confirmed to the Record that zama zamas were caught on camera attempting to exit the tunnels in the middle of the night through his premises, including inside one of their fridges.

Outside the butchery, a growing sinkhole resembling a tunnel entrance is also visible.

Kunene called on the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to rehabilitate old mining areas and acknowledged the scale of Johannesburg’s broader infrastructure crisis, saying the city would need around R100b to rehabilitate roads, bridges and stormwater systems.

Questions were sent to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, and their response will be shared in a follow-up article, once received.