A pothole in Site C, Khayelitsha, the width of a car tyre. Photo by Mary-Anne Gontsana.
19 March 2014
What started out as just a tweet from a frustrated Khayelitsha resident, has now put the spotlight on potholes.
Kuyasa resident Sibusiso Momoti tweeted: ‘They rather spend millions on a logo rather than potholes in kuyasa/khayelitsha #wcapestory’.
This prompted the Executive Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, Ian Neilson, to reply: ‘City of Cape Town fixes potholes within 48 hrs of reporting. Just try reporting and see the difference.’
Momoti then received an email address (watertoc [at] capetown.gov.za) and a phone number (0860 103 089) from Neilson to report the potholes.
“I wrote the email on Monday and sent it off,” says Momoti. “I got a response telling me that my complaint would be sent to the relevant people. A reference number was also included in the email. 48 hours passed and nothing happened.”
“I went back to Twitter on Thursday and told Ian Neilson. He asked me to provide my reference number and he would investigate why nothing had been done yet, and that was the last I heard from him and until today [13 March], nothing has been done.”
“The thing is these potholes are not only in my area here in Kuyasa. Other areas of Khayelitsha that have the same problem,” said Momoti.
Mayoral committee member for transport, Brett Herron, said each local roads and stormwater depot strived to repair potholes within the timeframe of 48 hours.
“Unfortunately, the City may at times not achieve this deadline due to the backlog in complaints and a lack of resources. Mr Momoti’s complaint was indeed logged and the depot manager in Khayelitsha is dealing with it.”
According to Herron there are teams designated to deal with potholes.
Social Justice Coalition’s Axolile Notywala said they received complaints about taps and toilets, which like potholes, were also meant to be fixed within 48 hours.
“Those hours do not apply to Khayelitsha. Maybe in other areas they do, but not here,” said Notywala.
“There are toilets that were reported a year ago that are still broken. Even the number the City provides is costly to make that call … Most residents do not have email addresses so they cannot be expected to send an email to report their problems. Sometimes you find that residents complain to the ward councillors, but even that does not lead them anywhere,” complained Notywala.
Herron said there was indeed currently a backlog in Khayelitsha’s Site B in dealing with complaints from people, but contractors had been appointed to assist.
The good news is that the potholes in Momoti’s street were eventually fixed on Tuesday evening 18 March.