The road which links Joza street and Extension 9 in Mayfield has been left unfinished after construction began less than two years ago, leaving road users and residents fuming.
The road which links Joza street and Extension 9 in Mayfield has been left unfinished after construction began less than two years ago, leaving road users and residents fuming.
It is still barricaded with huge rocks which were meant to keep the cars at bay during construction and is riddled with potholes.
Taxi driver Lizo Bheka said the road is every driver's nightmare, putting a strain on the fragile components of the taxis. "The road is the same as those that we use when we travel to rural areas and farms. The road condition is suitable for tractors and trucks, not for a normal car," he fumed. Lizo said the front suspension of his taxi took huge knocks from the road, which had forced him to do wheel alignment twice.
The road which was supposed to make life easier for the residents has left them stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Resident Emihle Lombo says the road is no better than the gravel road they used to have because it still dusty during sunny days and muddy on rainy days.
"My house is very near the road, so when the trucks and taxis drive by, all the dust from this unfinished road goes straight inside my house," Lombo said.
Taxis avoid the rocks and the potholes by driving on the pavement, posing a danger to pedestrians.
Another resident, who is also a taxi user, Patricia May, said, ''The most frustrating thing about the road is that it is still barricaded with huge rocks and this leads to the taxis having to take alternative routes which are far away from our normal stops."
Xolile Jela, Public Relations Officer of Ncedo Taxi Association, said that in March they had met representatives from Makana Municipality, together with the engineer responsible for the road.
They'd asked why the road hadn't been unfinished and were told that the budget for the road had been exhausted. Municipal spokesman Mncedisi Boma said the construction company building the road had been fired because of an insufficient standard of work.
