The Bridge Church based in the South of Johannesburg did its part for Mandela Day by filling up potholes in the South of Joburg on Saturday, July 16.
A total of 230 people from Alberton and the South of Johannesburg, from various walks of life and creeds, volunteered to help fill 361 potholes.
The Comaro Chronicle joined the group of volunteers to see what they did to help on Mandela Day.
Pastor Andrew Graetz from the Bridge Church said: “It was a great success and many of the community members contacted us to thank us for the effort. It’s good to have this kind of feedback and to see the community being happy about the potholes, that have been causing damage to their vehicles, being filled up.”
A resident from Alberton, Brenda Farrell said: “I have seen a group of volunteers from the Bridge Church, filling in a pothole in Verwoerd Park. They are using 13 bags of tar bought at the Spar in Verwoerd Park for R120 a bag, all out of their own pockets and not asking for anything.”
Another resident, Elizabeth King said, “On Saturday morning some residents, instead of complaining, were fixing potholes.”
Facts around the Bridge Church pothole fixes
• A total of 230 people volunteered to help with the outreach.
• A total of 361 potholes have been repaired in the South of Joburg and Alberton.
• 220 bags of tar was used.
• One bag weighed around 25kg equalling a total of 5 500kg of tar was used.
• A total of 2 000 kg of gravel was used to fill up the holes.
• The total cost of the project is between R11 000 and R12 000.
Some facts about potholes in Johannesburg:
• According to a report by AFRICA CHECK and Money Web in November 2020 there are more than 48 000 potholes in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ).
• From July 2019 to June 2020 a total of 4 972 potholes have been reported to the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA).
• The JRA estimated that there are about eight to 15 potholes for for every report that they receive from a resident.
• It gives a ratio of 6 000 reports for a total of between 48 000 and 90 000 potholes that need repairs for the 2019/2020 business year.
• To curb the problem of potholes in the city, CoJ launched a campaign recently aiming to fix about 100 000 potholes throughout the city.
• The city launched an App that is called Pothole Patrol App with DialDirect and Discovery that allows residents to report and follow the process of potholes.
Source: Africa Check, Money web, Hippo.co.za
