Makhado Park residents fix their own potholes
The Makhado Park community decided to raise money among themselves to buy sand and cement to repair streets in the area, saying that they could not wait for the Makhado Municipality indefinitely to do the job as they are supposed to.
LIMPOPO – Residents in Makhado Park in Louis Trichardt say they have lost all hope in their local municipality, after they have been pleading for years to have potholes filled, but to no avail.
Last Monday they took matters into their own hands, patching the streets themselves.
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Louis Trichardt’s streets in general have been in a sorry state for years, but the recent rains worsened conditions, leaving some residential areas, including Makhado Park, practically inaccessible in certain places.
The Makhado Park community decided to raise money among themselves to buy sand and cement to repair streets in the area, saying that they could not wait for the Makhado Municipality indefinitely to do the job as they are supposed to.
Resident Israel Sinthumule said instead of sitting with their arms folded, the community came up with a turnaround strategy.
“The residents are under pressure as the Makhado Municipality is failing in its duties. Because residents are not prepared to sit back and watch how their neighbourhoods are waned away by erosion, they are taking ownership of these problems themselves.”
The Makhado Park community is appealing to development partners to contribute and help them repair the roads.
“Many of the streets in the area are so damaged that it is impossible for motorists to use them. This has affected the availability of key services,” said Sinthumule.
The community has approached the municipality several times, but in vain.
“We have knocked on many doors at the Makhado Municipality, but we are greeted with empty promises. We have waited long enough now. We don’t feel like we belong to this municipality. We are challenging our municipality, as we are entitled to service delivery, like any other community. We should not be side-lined as if we are foreigners. We will not stop engaging them and we will keep on raising these issues whenever there are integrated development plan (IDP) meetings,” he said.
Ward councillor, Kanukani Maphubu informed CV that he had met with the Makhado Park community on Sunday, May 1 where he had explained the municipality’s strategy to the residents.
The municipality already has plans to rehabilitate the streets and to debush certain areas, he said, adding they have monthly pothole repair schedules.
He could, however, not say when the municipality intended to start with these projects.
