Makana Municipality Executive Mayor Nomhle Gaga railed at the state of Grahamstown roads during a special council meeting recently, saying action needed to be taken to repair the damaged roads.
Makana Municipality Executive Mayor Nomhle Gaga railed at the state of Grahamstown roads during a special council meeting recently, saying action needed to be taken to repair the damaged roads.
The municipality said it would embark on a pothole patching drive from last Wednesday, focusing mainly on high-volume streets. However, this wasn't possible due to non-delivery of materials.
The pothole fixing initiative was due to start this week. Municipal spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo, issued a statement saying the roads and streets in Makana had reached their design life span and that when it rains potholes appear everywhere.
Ramokolo said the municipality is aware that there are other low-volume streets that also require attention such as Miles Street, Struben Street, Portbury Road and several streets in Hlalani.
She said these low volume streets will be attended to, while work on the high volume streets continues. The programme will start in Allen Street and is due to be completed in December.
In her opening statements in the council meeting, the mayor said she was concerned about the state of the roads in Makana. She said service level agreements with the District Roads Engineer needed to be signed by next week to get the ball rolling on fixing the surfaces.
Gaga said the bad state of the roads contributes to the worsening image of the town, and called directors and councillors to act on service delivery issues. In the meeting, the newly appointed mayor gave the impression that she was eager to turn things around in the embattled municipality.
Gaga spoke harshly against what she described as lawlessness in Makana. She said no staff members would be allowed to stand in front of the city hall doing nothing during working hours.
"It's either people are in or out. We cannot tolerate lawlessness in this institution," she said.
"The community needs to see that we are serious."
anele@grocotts.co.za
See the schedule for repairing potholes here: bit.ly/GrocSchedule
