National Police Minister Bheki Cele’s excuse that potholes are to blame for hijackings in Nyanga helps nobody, least of all the communities in the metro-south east. Minister Cele and the South African Police Service are responsible for crime prevention, investigating crime, arresting criminals and protecting lives and livelihoods. They get the money, other resources, and personnel to do so from the National Government. We expect Minister Cele to lead the way in making our communities safer, while we will assist as best we can with the resources at our disposal.

That said, from my side, I am taking the following immediate action: I have instructed our Urban Mobility Directorate to provide a feedback report on the state of the roads in Nyanga. I will scrutinise it once it is on my desk to see how we, as the City, can assist to make the roads in Nyanga safer.

We care about every single resident in this city, and will take action if there is any truth in Minister Cele’s assertion.

I encourage the SAPS to report poor road conditions to the Transport Information Centre on 0800 65 64 63. The TIC is available 24/7. Residents are also encouraged to report potholes to this number. Please provide the exact location as far as possible as this will assist us in responding quicker.

The City is serious about service delivery to all communities. Our road network is one of our biggest assets and we are doing all we can to protect and maintain it in the interest of our residents and businesses.

The City’s Roads Infrastructure Management Department has depots across the whole city, and each day, they dispatch teams to inspect roads, sidewalks, bridges, and repair potholes.

It is very important that residents know we cannot do permanent repairs in wet weather. We have to wait for roads to dry properly and this is the reason why potholes are more prevalent in winter during our rainy season.

The City strives to make a pothole safe within 24 hours of it being reported to us. A permanent repair will be made within 15 days, weather permitting.

I also want to plead with residents to not dump grey water on the roads. Water is the number one cause of potholes and other damage to our road infrastructure.

The dumping of waste in stormwater mains and sewers lead to blockages and overflows onto roads. Residents can therefore help us protect our roads by not dumping waste in the stormwater inlets and sewers.

Source: City Of Cape Town