Pretoria - Businessmen together with the City of Tshwane have come together to fix potholes on a stretch of the KwaMhlanga Road between Mamelodi and Cullinan, north-east of Pretoria.
Since the road is a busy route, Frikkie van der Walt, Wessel Snyman and Xander Snyman saw it as a good opportunity to step in and assist with the filling of potholes, as they own a maintenance business called Rent a Brother project.
With the help of their team they have filled up 500 potholes in five days, with 18 tons of tar and machines from the Tshwane Road Works Department.
Snyman said the Cavalier Group backed the entire project financially: “Potholes are very dangerous especially for motorists; they can cause instant accidents and damage cars. We’re really happy and thankful for managing to carry out this job to the end.
“Cavalier Group in Pretoria played a vital role to make sure all the potholes were fixed. Some of the potholes were as big as baby pools, you can imagine the damage they cause to car tyres if you have to pass there every day.”
He said eight people worked non-stop over the period, and they were all proud of what they had accomplished.
This as South Africa has more than 25 million potholes across its roads – which is 10 million more potholes than the country had five years ago.
Potholes form on the surface of roads as the material used on the road gets worn out over time and by the elements, and, in Pretoria, areas affected by the unstable elements found just underneath the earth’s surface, which suffer greatly during and for years after excessive rains.
Fixing the holes and uneven surface on roads is a costly exercise for local and provincial governments, costing, according to Sanral, between R700 and R1 500/square kilometre to fix a single pothole, depending on its size.
The damage is also felt by motorists, whose cars are damaged if and when they drive over or into the holes, but, homes, businesses and people also suffer economically and are inconvenienced when roads are closed as metros and governments work on accessing damaged road surfaces and fixing them.
Pretoria News