When you ask about Old Fort Road, passing Sasol Salt Rock going to the Litchi Orchard, everyone shakes their heads and wrinkles their foreheads.
Foxhill resident Trevor Thompson said the little road, which is part of Mascor’s property (partly occupied by the Sasol garage), has led to many meetings and headaches.
“I believe Mascor did not keep to their side of the bargain,” said Thompson, who remembered the beginning of the debacle in the late 2000’s.
According to Thompson, the residents had prescriptive rights to the road, because they had used it for more than 30 years.
“The residents met with Mascor and came to the agreement that Mascor would provide a quality road,” said Thompson, who at that time was still the Salt Rock councillor.
Thompson said the engineer hired by Mascor did a shoddy job, which is why the road has disintegrated.
“The road was totally inadequate, so the residents had a meeting and wanted to take the matter to court,” he said.
A problem arose when, according to Thompson, the minutes from the meeting, taken by council, could not be found and so nothing further happened.
“The irony is that the old part of the road which is the lane closest to Sasol, is still in good condition, but the new lane is a mess,” he said.
Current Salt Rock councillor, Malcolm Hubner, agreed the road has been an ongoing problem.
“Rather write about something else, this road story is a damn mess,” said Hubner, with a chuckle when the Courier asked about the infamous Old Fort Road.
With the area around Old Fort Road becoming busier, thanks to popular spots such as the Litchi Orchard, Sage and Eden Village, the bad road is a growing thorn.
Owner of Sage, Janine Hill, said the terrible road affects everyone in the area.
“The road is just getting worse and worse. Everyone moans about it and it is bad for business, as people do not want to drive on it,” said Hill.
A Mascor spokesperson, who chose to remain anonymous, said they are aware that the road beyond the entrance of their site has degraded over the past year.
“In our view, the degradation is caused by heavy commercial vehicles using the road,” he said.
According to Mascor, the road was never designed to sustain such loads.
“It has not been caused by our customers or our operations,” he said.
Furthermore, Mascor said the road is a public access route and a right of way, therefore the onus rests with the municipality to maintain and repair the road.
