Residents tired of reporting massive pothole-cum-dam

“It is no longer a pothole. It is a dam, so we cannot blame the children for having a swim.”

This is how the residents of Evaton West, in the Emfuleni local municipality, described a massive pothole which shocked the public on social media when children and a few adults were captured swimming in it at the weekend.

After the rains that fell on Gauteng last week, the water in the pothole on corner Cemetery Road and Golden Highway, rose to a point that residents saw it is a perfect place to cool off from the hot weather on Sunday.

One of the residents, Godfrey Mofokeng  said the pothole began developing in 2017.

Mofokeng said locals reported the pothole in a community meeting where municipal officials were present the same year.

“They did nothing and it continued to grow…it is now a dam. Other roads in our neighbourhood have been fixed but this one has been left like this. There is always water in that pothole. When it rains, the pothole [becomes a pool]. That is why the children decided to swim in it. I don’t blame them,” Mofokeng said.

He told Sowetan that the residents have tried throwing sand in the pothole in an attempt to level it in order to allow cars to use the road but that has not helped as it grew over time.

“Our concern is that even dirty water with sewage gets into the pothole and the children go and swim there,” Mofokeng said.

Another resident Solly Lesese said the pothole is just part of the many service delivery problems of Emfuleni.

“Service delivery here is not right. This is supposed to be a tarred road but it has so many potholes. It is really a sad situation that we are facing here,” Lesese said.

Emfuleni spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni said the municipality is not aware of the pothole.

“[I] will refer this to the roads department,” Sangweni said. He added that it is only the roads department that can indicate when the pothole will be fixed.

Sowetan has reported comprehensively of the service delivery problems in Emfuleni which have caused residents to do road maintenance on their own. The municipality is currently under administration as it has been facing serious debt and revenue problems.