by Mark Johnston
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed that Capetonians no longer have to travel up to Gauteng to partake in that much-loved South African pastime, the pothole slalom.
Just driving to my local shops provides me with a host of exciting obstacles to negotiate, from the good ol’ fashioned pothole to sloppy repair jobs (think jutting-out manholes and trenches so slumped they’re like inverted speed bumps) to mystery sinkholes and spiderwebs of cracks.
No doubt it’s a combination of a particularly wet winter and the City reducing spending due to the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean we should all just stick our heads in the sand/potholes.
The problem here is twofold. For one, it takes its toll on the city’s already taxi-frazzled drivers. But the second and more worrying concern is that allowing Cape Town’s road infrastructure to deteriorate to this extent unfortunately means bigger repairs (and therefore greater expense) when the City finally does get around to fixing things.
We can all play our part here by reporting potholes to transport.info@capetown.gov.za. In my experience the City normally sends in a team to patch them up in a day or two, which is great.
Less great is the fact that you can only repair disintegrating tarmac so much. In my street there are some potholes that have been fixed at least four times (that’s a patch on a patch on a patch on a patch). Eventually this gets silly. And pointless.
Which is why I think citizens should also start putting more pressure on elected officials by writing angry letters to their counsellors and local newspapers. And by voting accordingly at the next election.
* Mark Johnston, Kenilworth.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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