VANDERBIJLPARK – Emfuleni Local Municipality is vigorously known for failing to close potholes on its roads.
But residents of Leyd Street in Vanderbijlpark, SE 1, are making a difference by contributing pennies to purchase bags of tar in order to reseal their own potholes.
With just a couple of cold tar bags bought every single month, more than two giant potholes are filled at a go.
This should be a lesson taught to employees of roads in the embattled municipality and government officials on keeping road users safe.
Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, a resident at Leyd, Francois Fourie said they’ve engaged the municipality for years without services being rendered.
“For more than seven years, we have approached the municipality on service delivery issues, including potholes, water leakages, and broken high mast lights, among many other issues without luck. We then decided as residents to make a difference in our community by contributing towards fixing service delivery headaches. We have decided to purchase bags of cold tar and schedule repair days, where all men come out and help reseal these bad roads,” he said.
Fourie said since 2015 when he arrived in the area, they try to do a lot of things including cleaning a local substation which has overgrown grass.
“We saw the need to close the roads because of one giant pothole and make sure that all motorists passing our community remains safe. Some time ago, a motorist plunged into the big pothole and ended up on my neighbours wall,” he said.
Fourie added that the act of ignoring messages by the municipality motivates them to take matters into their own hands.
“We’ve been reporting a water leak for more than two weeks now, and still the municipality hasn’t resolved that issue, hence we try and make our own change. We don’t have much money to patch all the potholes, so residents contribute any amount they can, then we buy and collect our roads,” he added.
According to the man, they created a group on WhatsApp to discuss issues they need to resolve in their hood.
“The group is a way of creating friendship and closeness among neighbours and also making sure that we bring about change. I would like to thank all the neighbours living on Leyd who contributed towards this good course. We will be closing these potholes until it’s in good condition,” he said.
Asked how much the contribution amounted to, Fourie said they coughed almost R2500 which contributed towards road material, hiring of compactor, and paying labourers who help from outside the community.
“If we not going to do anything to change our community, Emfuleni will not do it, hence we decided to do it ourselves. Even if it takes until the end of the year, we are going to continue closing these potholes”.
Fourie said when they completed the pothole projects, they will work on fixing street lights, including the high mast light plunging the street into darkness.
“If there are any individuals willing to contribute towards fixing our hood, they are more than welcome to do so on my number 076 826 7914,” he said.
Emfuleni spokesman Makhosonke Sangweni said residents are allowed to play a constructive role in supporting the state.
“Our service delivery call Centre are always available to attend to any issue related to services,” he said.
