Residents of the Ooster Agricultural Holdings (AH) are standing together for better service delivery in the area.
Hennie van Staden escorted the Herald to one of the Ooster AH main entrances on Johannes Road where he parked his car in one of the road’s many potholes to demonstrate just how deep they are.
Van Staden said he has reported the matter to the Rand West City Local Municipality (RWCLM) but their response was that they had no materials to do repairs.
Van Staden said this was unacceptable and explained that his car’s left control arm has been damaged as a result of hitting one of the Johannes Road potholes.
He said more cars will be damaged if nothing is done and complained about how long the damage claiming process at the municipality takes.
The first intersection on the road has a number of deep potholes which motorists need to swerve around to avoid damaging their vehicles. This is a double-edged sword as they have to swerve into oncoming traffic at the intersection, which has no stop sign.
In addition to the number of potholes on the road, there is an unusually high speed hump outside van Staden’s home.
He said the amount of tar the municipality used on the hump would have filled some of the more dangerous potholes on the rest of the road.
Van Staden said his neighbours have badly damaged their car’s chassis while using the road and want to claim the damages back from the municipality.
He told the Herald about their concern about how long it will take as they have to pay for the damages out of pocket in the meantime and may not be reimbursed for months, or even years.
While the Herald was on scene with Van Staden, a number of other residents stopped to add their two cents worth about the area’s infrastructure.
Two residents went as far as driving over the speed hump to prove how it inevitably scrapes a car’s undercarriage and one gladly parked his bakkie in a pothole in a bid to show the municipality that something needs to be done.
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