No more roads left to drive on

Questions are being asked about how effective the municipality’s pothole repair programme really is.
Everywhere in the city, the potholes are turned into square craters, left as is and motorists have to carry the brunt of it.

On Tuesday, May 31 chaos erupted when a taxi lost a wheel because of a pothole and was forced to stop in the middle of Gordon Road, a few meters away from the busy Gordon Road and OR Tambo Road intersection.
Motorists had no alternative but to drive through the gaping squares as oncoming traffic made it impossible to drive in the opposite lane.

“This is ridiculous. This has cost me another tyre and the roads are not safe at all,” said taxi driver Mr Samuel Mafiriri.

He had to call on other taxi drivers to get his commuters to their destinations as he tried to fix his taxi’s wheel.

Shaya Construction is one of 12 small companies that was contracted to fix potholes in eMalahleni.

It is not clear how the 12 contractors, hired by the municipality to fix the12 000 sq meter potholes, are planning to fix this problem.

Besides the municipality’s efforts AfriForum also fixed potholes in the city.
Mr Hillel Coetzer, branch coordinator for AfriForum, said the organisation identified May-month as the pothole-repair-month. They approved R2 million for the project of which R81 000 was spent fixing potholes in eMalahleni.
Municipal Manager, Mr Theo van Vuuren said the municipality remains firm on its position that it can not accommodate claims for work done outside its budget and without prior agreement.

He is referring to AfriForum’s court action against the municipality claiming money for pothole repairs they had done.

Gaping potholes in the form of squares caused a lot of damage this past week.

“In respect of the current claims already brought against the municipality by AfriForum, no indication by Afriforum was provided on whether they will continue with that approach or not. However the municipal view point that it can not accommodate claims where the community spend money and then claim it back was clearly conveyed as this will not only contravene legislative rules but will then imply that money meant for other priorities are redirected by an unilateral action by a specific group which may impact negatively on others,” Van Vuuren said.

In a meeting on May 23 members of AfriForum and Van Vuuren discussed a wide range of service issues. The aim was to find common ground and a solution to a non- confrontational way forward in the interest of the community.

The differences in the priorities of the two parties were very clear. AfriForum represent its members and obviously that will guide its activities whilst the municipality needs to apply its resources in accordance to all its communities’ needs.

“The municipality does not have sufficient resources to cater in all its needs and the assistance and initiatives by any institution, including AfriForum, will be welcomed,” Van Vuuren concluded.

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[VIDEO] Gordan Road Potholes