Water leak turns into sinkhole saga
Witteberg Street is finally set to undergo repairs nine months after first being reported.
What started as a pesky water leak under Witteberg Street in Helderkruin has turned into a full-blown road disaster, and residents say the blame lies squarely with Johannesburg Water (JW) and the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA).
Residents told the Roodepoort Record they never imagined the inaction from the two entities would leave them dodging potholes and laying their own sandbags just to get home.
“It took two months and several visits from JW before they finally fixed the leak,” says one frustrated resident, who preferred to remain anonymous.
The leak was first reported in September last year, but was only properly repaired in November, after several failed attempts.
“And they didn’t even bother putting up a warning sign,” the resident adds. “We were left with a gaping hole in the road, which is a real hazard, especially at night.”
Unsurprisingly, at least one serious accident occurred when a motorist didn’t spot the hole after dark.
The constant rainfall earlier this year made things worse, turning the hole into a mini swimming pool.
Water seeped beneath the tar, quietly eroding the road from below until a significant portion was washed away.
Fed up with waiting, residents took matters into their own hands.
“We used a municipal dustbin and some danger tape to block off part of the road,” says the resident. “We’ve been reporting the damage to the JRA since January.”
Despite three visits from the JRA to patch the trench with milling chips, heavy rains simply washed the temporary fixes away.
When the Roodepoort Record visited the site on June 18, the once-small trench had morphed into a 10-metre-long, 30cm-deep crater – deeper in some spots – right in front of the resident’s driveway.
“I’ve had to lay down sandbags just to get into my yard,” the resident says.
Why the hold-up?
According to JRA’s head of regional operations, Khaya Gqibitole, the delays boil down to two issues.
“Firstly, we can only repair the road once we’ve received an official order from Johannesburg Water, as per our service agreement,” explains Gqibitole. “Secondly, widespread flooding damaged many main and collector roads across the city. Those had to be prioritised.”
Gqibitole confirmed that repairs to Witteberg Street are scheduled for July, as part of the new 2025/ 26 financial year work programme.
Until then, residents will have to keep navigating their own homemade roadworks.
