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The Democratic Alliance (DA) today staged a picket in Kimberley against Sol Plaatje’s mass of potholes that are growing in number and severity on a daily basis, costing residents thousands of rands on tyres and vehicle repairs as a direct result.

While it was previously estimated that it would cost Sol Plaatje over R314 million to repair the city’ s 650 km tar road network, that underwent no maintenance between 2018 and 2021, the situation seems increasingly overwhelming given the meagre R14 million allocated by Sol Plaatje towards pothole patching in the current financial year.

At this rate, looking at a cost of R1,5 million per kilometer of resealing, it will take 22 years to fix all the potholes in Kimberley, by which time all roads will probably be in a worse state than Landbou Weg. This provincial road, situated on the outskirts of Kimberley has already been nicknamed “road of death” due to the dangers it poses to trucks carrying livestock.

It doesn’t help that Sol Plaatje lost R30 million from the Roads and Stormwater budget in the previous financial year, after it took money away from roads in order to attend to the retention dam in Galeshewe. The dam project subsequently fell through and grant funding from national was taken back because the contractor was removed from site. The DA is waiting for a full report, after which we want it referred to MPAC.

The promise of a R500 million injection into fixing Sol Plaatje would have helped significantly, in fact it could have fixed our roads entirely. But the R170 million contribution to the project availed by Roads and Public Works seems to have gone AWOL, despite the department having reported that R69 million of the R126,710 million set aside specifically for pothole repairs was utilized, with the other R40 million having gone to the Sol Plaatje Cleaning Project. This is also despite a promise by Premier Zamani Saul that, by the end of 2021, there would not be a single pothole in and around Kimberley.

This is far from the case. We have requested an answer in council but even Sol Plaatje’s road engineer cannot tell us which roads were repaired by the department, as all road works observed in the city thus far have been carried out by Sol Plaatje, with its R14 million, its EPWP workers and a dodgy diesel mechanic, to whom it awarded a contract for the supply of tar.

As the DA tries to get more information on this contract, what we do know is that Frances Baard district municipality paid an amount of R3,5 million for road repairs directly to this company, that is known to the DA. The DA has evidence of the payment made to this mechanical and towing company, which was allegedly also not tax compliant, and apparently requested a one-month grace period to get its taxes in order.

For reasons unknown to the DA, it is believed that Sol Plaatje also entered into a two-year contract with the very same company, to which the R14 million for pothole repairs was allocated. Ironically, the company does not possess any road repair machinery and equipment, and only supplies tar to the municipality, which also does not possess road repair machinery, and has to rent equipment at an additional cost. The municipality also doesn’t have employees skilled in pothole repair, and that is why it is using EPWP workers to fulfill this task.

The details around the contract, which are believed to lapse in 2024, are sketchy and have not been made available to the DA, but we are pushing for answers.

Given the above, it is nonetheless little wonder that pothole repairs already effected in the city have not lasted more than a couple of months, or a couple of rainfalls, with potholes returning in an even worse and more craterous state than before, making roads more hazardous for motorists.

The DA is of the view that Sol Plaatje has dug itself a very deep hole and that it firstly needs to stop digging and, together with provincial government, take an honest and objective look at the situation facing Kimberley today.

There are now so many potholes that we are at the stage where residents entering Kimberley actually need to be warned of the many potholes that are present in almost every single street in Kimberley. This is where we are at.

Next, local and district government needs to come clean about the road repair contracts that they entered into while provincial government needs to come clean about its so-called investment into pothole repairs.

The DA will continue to probe these matters ,on all levels of government, until we receive answers.

Only once these facts are on the table, can actions be taken against those who have willfully worsened the state of our roads.

Only then can contracts be transparently reviewed to ensure value for money, after which additional investments should also be made into pothole repair so that the city’s road infrastructure can eventually be made safe again.

Issued by Marie Beylefeld, Cllr - Sol Plaatje Municipality