Residents often take to their social media accounts to complain and rant about their daily struggles with service delivery or the lack thereof. A recent post by a community member took the Bloemfontein Courant by surprise.
Chris Snyman, a local business manager, posted a picture of one of the many potholes in his area, but this was not an ordinary picture, it had a clear message attached to it. This example is based on the level of frustration and anger experienced when dealing with issues such as potholes.
According to Snyman, he decided to highlight the potholes because there are lots of people whose cars have lost tyres and damaged rims because of them, while it seems as if nothing is being done about it. “Who pays for the damage?” he asked. He added that his company has tried to fill potholes with sand to make them more level, but there is no longevity and it is not a permanent solution. “The tar is way too expensive,” he said. The message he wants to send out is that these potholes need to be fixed and the municipality needs to take responsibility for them.
Shaunese van der Merwe told the publication that she recently hit a pothole in town while on her way to work. “The pothole was so deep that it completely tore my car’s tyre and damaged the rim,” she said. She added that she had no choice but to drive through the pothole, otherwise she would have hit the car in the right lane.
The newly elected Premier of the Free State, Mxolisi Dukwana, mentioned in his State of the Province address on Tuesday, 28 February 2023, that attention should be given to further reducing the maintenance and construction backlog of the roads in the province.
He added that their investment in road infrastructure in the next financial year will comprise R165 million in Mangaung.
“We are enhancing our Operation Vala Zonke initiatives to eradicate potholes. Our focus must be multi-pronged and include both the private sector and the rebuilding of capacity within the public sector. We will draw on the capacity developed through various contractor development programmes to accelerate the expansion of the repair of potholes in our municipal spaces. Municipalities will be required to develop, fund and implement pothole eradication programmes,” said Dukwana.
Justine Fortuin
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