Publications
Disgruntled motorists are calling on the City of Cape Town to urgently fix “appalling roads” in some of the townships across the city.
Drivers say they have to navigate their way around potholes everywhere and they run the risk of damaging their vehicles. They claim most roads are in “shambles” and the situation is deteriorating.
When City Vision visited Philippi and Khayelitsha last week, some roads were in a mess. Motorists had to take extra caution evasive actions while driving around in the wet and rainy conditions.
One of the motorists Nolubabalo Nyula, from Philippi, accused the City of doing shoddy work.
“The City takes us for granted,” she claimed. “Why are all the roads in the townships the same? If there are no potholes, there are blocked drains at each and every street. This is appalling”
However, she also blamed some residents for damaging the roads during service delivery protests.
Khayelitsha resident Mluleki Sikhweza said: “There are potholes in every street in Khayelitsha. Our councillors are aware of it but they do nothing.”
He accused the City of deploying its officials to fine the drivers instead. He added that one of his friends once had a tyre bust because of potholes.
Mayco member for transport Felicity Purchase said the City’s roads department is aware of these challenges and they are attending to it.
She urged residents and motorists to bear with them as it is difficult to do permanent repairs in winter due to the wet weather conditions. “Given the rainy weather, we can only do temporary repairs on potholes. We will then return in more favourable weather conditions to do repair work that will last longer,” she said.
Purchase cited the presence of water as the primary cause of potholes.
However, she stated that the formation differs somewhat depending on the existing road pavement composition.
Purchased said the City spends approximately R179 14629 on repairs and reseal projects by contracts within the Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain and Philippi areas.
