Unsupervised road works, potholes cause danger

Polokwane Municipality may face legal claims for injuries and damage caused in accidents that occur as a result of insufficient supervision of contractors repairing potholes and doing excavations in streets and on pavements in the city.
Although potholes were a common sight throughout the year, the situation became worse after recent rains and there are only a few streets in the greater CBD that were not affected.
Motorists are in particular concerned about the fact that potholes and excavations in streets and on pavements are not secured properly. “There are no warning signs and serious accidents may occur, especially during the night and peak periods,” a motorist referring to a dangerous situation at the corner of DieMeer and Dorp streets claimed last Thursday.

The absence of warning signs at the potholes in Voortrekker Street also raised a concern from residents. “The municipality has started to repair the potholes on a section of the street a week ago but abandoned the work,” a resident complained on Friday.
The excavations at the corner of DieMeer and Potgieter streets also cause danger and the situation was even more dangerous on Tuesday morning when motorists had to swerve into the face of oncoming traffic to negotiate uncovered pothole excavations at the same intersection.

Spokesperson for the municipality, Thipa Selala said that the municipality has deployed all of its available workforce to repair potholes but that it takes time due to the fact that there are so many potholes.
“We also had a delay in the delivery of materials due to the closing of our suppliers over the festive season,” Selala said.
Communications and Marketing Manager of the municipality, Matshidiso Mothapo earlier explained that street warning signs are stolen overnight, depleting the available resources.

Story/photos: BARRY VILJOEN
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