While the local and district municipalities wrangle over reimbursement costs and trenching of roads, residents in Twelfth Street are living with a severely damaged road. This road in Forderville is marked with several potholes and damaged sections of roads.
It has been this way for many months. In fact, some residents say the neglected road has not seen repairs in years.
“This road is in terrible condition for as long as I can remember,” said one Twelfth Street resident. “We pay rates, but look at the road,” added the resident.
The road is so badly damaged in some areas that two vehicles cannot pass. “Besides the pathetic condition of the road, what about the damage to our cars?” questioned the resident. Some residents attest to most of the damage caused by the road being dug up for water pipe bursts, the remaining damage is attributed to deep potholes that also have been neglected.
Responding to the Twelfth Street residents’ concerns, Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality Communications Manager Sphelele Zikalala echoed the sentiments from residents about water pipe burst damage.
“The state of this road is due to a leaking water main pipe running underneath the road tracks and henceforth poses a challenge to us as the local municipality,” commented Ms Zikalala.
What exactly is this challenge that she is referring to?
“The district municipality unfortunately does not inform nor request permission to trench and we therefore have to find out by default when there has been trenching on our roads. We have made arrangements towards the reimbursement of costs incurred when the district municipality performs maintenance of water pipes within our roads however, no compensation has been received over the years,” Ms Zikalala explained.
There was no indication whether the repair of this road is on the cards.
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