Buccleuch residents are fed up with the near non-existent service delivery levels in their community. This is especially true for road maintenance, grass cutting, and water leaks.
They say issues are getting worse and potholes, in particular, are the bane of the lives of road users. They feel that the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) is not doing enough to fix the potholes and claim that worsening potholes on the roads cause traffic flow disruptions with cars having to drive in the middle of the street or in the opposite direction to maneuver around them.
These issues have been reported since November last year and community members have now requested that Ward 109 councillor, Lori Coogan escalate the complaints and follow up with JRA.
“We tried our best to find help. It’s frustrating as JRA phone lines don’t work and follow-up emails take time to be attended to,” said resident Moin Khan.
A concerned community member, Lauren Nightingale said she has been logging complaints to the JRA with no response.
“The roads need to be fixed properly as this is a yearly occurrence with summer rains,” said Nightingale.
Water gushing from private land, near Fife Street is another problem for the area. According to the residents, water leaks cause potholes to expand. They logged a ticket for this pothole in March but it has still not been attended to.
According to Coogan, JRA has not fixed all the potholes, they only fixed one pothole on Fife Street.
“I escalated the issue of potholes to JRA and they haven’t fixed everything. They told me that they fixed everything on Fife Street and when I asked for photos, they did not get back to me. I am still trying to get more information from them,” said Coogan.
The Sandton Chronicle contacted JRA spokesperson, Bertha Peters-Scheepers on April 19, via WhatsApp. She forwarded the media query to JRA’s Kelebogile Mafa. On April 20, Mafa asked the Chronicle to send a query to an email she had shared via WhatsApp. No response to the initial email was received and on April 21, the Chronicle contacted Mafa again. Again no response was received. At the time of going to print no response had been received from the JRA.
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