Massive pothole covers an entire lane

A huge pothole which covers an entire lane on Horak Street in Kocksoord has caused much outrage from residents who say that the Randfontein Local Municipality does little to no maintenance on infrastructure in the area.

Residents say that due to the massive damage to the road, motorists are often inconvienenced and have to go to desperate and dangerous measures in order to avoid the pothole.

They say that motorists go as far as driving in the oncoming traffic lane and allege that they often experience much road rage should two motorists traveling in opposite directions pass at the same time.

According to them, it is only a matter of time before an accident occurs and claims a life.

Resident and business owner Betty Nkoma tells that Herald that she has had enough of these problems and hopes that the road will be considered a danger and fixed with much urgency.

“I run a crèche just next to this road and this has been an inconvenience to my business.

“My business is currently failing dismally because no parent wants to bring their children to a crèche that is in an unsafe environment,” says Nkoma

Other residents share the same sentiments and say that they have tried their best to temporarily repair the massive pothole, however there is only so much they can do.

“Over the months we have tried to fix the road ourselves but obviously we failed.

“We dumped sand on the damaged portion and leveled it but that never worked.

“Whenever it rained, the sand washed away and the problem would start all over again,” says one resident.

Randfontein Local Municipality spokesperson Lucky Chiya says that residents need to report matters to the municipality and exhaust all avenues before approaching the media to air their outcries.

He says that the way the municipality can assist is only if they know about the problem and not constantly find out about a problematic area in society through the media.

The residents, however, say that they have, on numerous occasions reported the problem to the municipality and only approached the Herald as a last resort because the municipality has failed to act on their complaints.