Roadworks abandoned for months

PARKTOWN – Partially completed, abandoned roadworks near the corner of Winchester Road and Victoria Avenue were finally reinstated approximately five months after they were begun.

The reinstatement came after a flurry of emails from resident Michael Fridjhon and councillor Amanda Forsythe to Johannesburg Roads Agency.

According to Fridjhon, the roadworks along the pavement of the Winchester Road bridge and in Victoria Avenue were begun some time in May.

The pavement flagstones had been left stacked up, and barricades were left standing alongside the gutter.

“These slowed traffic movement over the bridge and made the lives of pedestrians… difficult and dangerous,” wrote Fridjhon in a July email to the roads agency.

The Victoria Avenue trench had been partially filled in, although sections had not been re-tarred. Fridjhon said he damaged two of his car’s tyres on the sharp edges of the trench.

His request for claim forms went unanswered by the agency.

In a reply to Fridjhon’s follow-up email in September, the agency’s Isaac Mosoane said that a water pipe on the southern side of the bridge had burst, and that a contractor had been assigned to fix the pipe.

“They left the area exposed and never removed the barricades,” he wrote.

Mosoane requested that the contractor be contacted and asked to reinstate the paving.

Fridjhon said the pavements had finally been reinstated and the barricades later removed, once the concrete had dried.

Forsythe said her involvement in the matter had been limited, as that part of Parktown fell outside her ward.

“The councillor for that section of Parktown is Sihlwele Myeki. The Parktown Association have never heard from him or seen him, despite inviting him to their meetings. I’m not sure if Yeoville or Berea residents have seen him either, but as far as most Parktown residents are concerned, I am their councillor,” she said.

Forsythe added that, while she was happy to help the residents, it could be problematic as that section of the suburb fell under the City’s Region F.

“I cannot ask the Region B officials to sort out the problems. They can only assist me by putting me in touch with Myeki’s officials, which only works sometimes, as some officials won’t take my requests seriously if they discover that I’m not the councillor for the area or am not from their region,” she said.

When contacted for comment by this reporter, the agency’s Ntsikelelo Ngubeni said, “The matter has been resolved.”