Pothole paradise

Date: 28 February 2014 By: Andries van Zyl

Makhado (Louis Trichardt) can surely now rank among the country’s top pothole paradise destinations.

This is the general consensus among residents having to navigate their way to work, school, church and home through the town’s pothole-infested streets on a daily basis. An already bad situation was made even worse by the recent heavy rains and the question many ask is whether the Makhado Municipality will ever be able to recover and return the town’s streets to a drivable state again.

Frustration is running high and more and more people are reverting to fixing potholes in front of their businesses and homes themselves. Last week, residents in Vorster Street (in front of Pemico) took to the streets themselves to try and fix some of the major potholes. Similar action was taken this week by residents  in Unika Street (in front of NTK). A couple of weeks ago, a private company also fixed potholes at their own cost in Bauhinia Street, in front of OK Grocer.

The growing desperation among residents with the situation has now created a market for DIY pothole repair kits. A couple of businesses in town, such as P&L Hardware, are already offering products such as Pothole Fix to residents. At a cost of R80 per 25kg bag, Pothole Fix can fill a 0.5m² hole to a depth of 30mm. “A 25kg bag can therefore go far, compared to what you pay for it,” says Jacques van Deventer of P&L Hardware.

The bad news for residents fixing potholes themselves, however, is that this process is illegal as the law states that no person other than the responsible authority is allowed to fix potholes.

So what is the responsible authority, namely the Makhado Municipality, at this stage doing with regard to the town’s deteriorating streets?

The municipality responded last Wednesday (after our going to press) to media enquiries directed to them in this regard on Monday, 17 February. The municipality was, among others, asked how they would describe the current state of the town’s streets; whether they had any action plan to address the current situation; whether they could claim money for repairs from their disaster management fund; and whether they would prosecute residents who fixed potholes themselves.

In response, the municipality admitted that the town’s streets are currently not in a favourable condition. To address this, the municipality indicated that they had action plans in place. "We have appointed a contractor to do work on the following streets: Kruger, Kort , Jeppe, Grobler, President and Vorster. Another contractor has been appointed to service (the) Eltivillas taxi rank and the surrounding streets at the business area. We have also finalised the assessment of streets in town [with regard to cost] … in order to get a service provider who has experience in maintenance, and this will be done before end of February 2014," said Mr Louis Bobodi, municipal spokesperson. He added that residents would start seeing improvement at the end of February, onwards.

With regard to additional funding through their disaster management fund, Bobodi stated that this would not be possible. He said the disaster fund's main priority was to address problems in areas where the community was completely cut off from the outside world due to, among other, roads'  being washed away completely. 

On the issue of whether residents would be prosecuted for fixing potholes themselves, the municipality remained mum. “Anything that is done on the assets of the municipality should have been given prior approval by the accounting officer,” was Bobodi’s only response.

Another question the Zoutpansberger asked was whether the municipality would accept responsibility for damage claims against them in the event of vehicle damage as a result of potholes. This question was completely ignored by the municipality. The question was asked after numerous residents had enquired from the newspaper whether they could claim for damage?

The short answer to this is: Yes, you can claim, but it would seem easier said than done. The Zoutpansberger did a bit of research, but the result holds little consolation for residents. On almost all the forums the newspaper could get information regarding the claims process, the conclusion was the same – you can claim, but the process is cumbersome, tedious, expensive and, in most cases, without any positive outcome for the claimant.

For those up to the challenge, the process is:

On municipal roads, road users would have to approach that specific municipal authority or Department of Public Works and enquire from them which documentation to complete, and to whom to submit such a claim. Information required would include your ID document, driver’s license, the registration details of your vehicle, three written quotes for repair, and a declaration signed by the claimant. It is also advised that the vehicle owner should provide proof through photos of the pothole and the damage to the vehicle.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

More photos... 

Almost the entire length of Hlanganani Street has become a gravel road, littered with potholes. To the north, every now and then motorists cut the fence along the N1 to take a shortcut onto Hlanganani Street in an effort to avoid the potholes. This situation had been ongoing long before the recent rains.