London Road may have been renamed Vincent Tshabalala Road close to two decades ago but for too many in Alexandra it still remains London Road.
Most of the roads were renamed during the tenure of former Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg Amos Masondo in 2007 but the community never bought into the idea and still refers to those roads by their original names.
Named after one of the greatest cities in Europe that symbolises tranquillity, cleanliness, and sheer driving pleasure but this piece of the road is now a shadow of its former self and glory.
It is now dilapidated and potholed, with some sections of it reduced to a single lane in both opposite directions. Some people have taken advantage and erected shacks that have encroached onto the road and coupled with the foul smell of rotting filth dumped on the middle island and local goats helping themselves to the piles of rubbish.
“There is nothing Londonish about this road anymore. We get mugged, hijacked and shot at on a daily basis, let alone the sorry state of affairs on the road that has reduced it to a sheer driving abyss,” remarked one motorist, Enock Ntonga to Alex News.
“We thought Vincent Tshabalala was the township’s toast of heroism and that the powers that be will do all they can to ensure it is kept up to standard as it honours our unsung township struggle hero,” added another motorist Nolitha Masuku.
Somnyama Tembe, another motorist driving past, urged the authorities to ‘please fix this road as it is the major link from Ekurhuleni to the richest square mile of Sandton and most of us work there and drive past here on a daily basis.
“Dilapidated as it is, the road costs us heavily on car maintenance and this is not on,” Tembe told Alex News, adding that he does not know how many times he has had to fix his punctured tyres and in certain instances the rims and control arms of the car.
Bertha Scheepers of the Johannesburg Road Agency, responding to Alex News on when the road would be fixed and returned to its former glory, said, “We will be doing a multi-entity walk-about assessment of Vincent Tshabalala within the next week or two – to outline a way forward.”
Scheepers said the JRA understands the Alex residents’ frustrations with a number of issues highlighted but the solutions require a multi-department approach. Shack encroachments is a JMPD by-law enforcement matter, so too are the illegal water and electricity connections.
“The regional JRA depot is aware of the state of the road and we have engaged Joburg Water to assist in closing the various water leakages as well as the sewer and grey water draining onto the road.
“Unfortunately, JRA can only repair the roads once the fresh water, grey water and sewer drainage is blocked from the road as these all damage the road’s asphalt surface, and therefore any repairs on the current road surface would be ineffectual.”
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