Potholes filled as community rejects citizen abuse – IRR

12 April 2021

Undeterred by the inaction and apparent indifference of the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) and other entities, residents of the Roodepoort suburb of Weltevredenpark have taken the initiative and filled more than 80 potholes along the busiest routes in the area.

As part of our ongoing #StopCitizenAbuse campaign, the IRR visited the community to learn more about the steps it has taken to look after local infrastructure, and take a stand against the neglect and abuse of citizens meted out by their municipality.

The initiative was spearheaded by the Panorama Residents Association (PRA), which is responsible for the area bounded by Jim Fouche Street, Hendrik Potgieter Drive, Tennis Street and JG Strydom Drive. The PRA, along with EC Security, got together with members of the community to fill the potholes, using a total of 875 kg of asphalt and tar. The efforts were funded by annual membership fees of residents belonging to the PRA.

PRA chairman Dave Baxter recently told the Roodepoort Record that “(since) January we have been reporting potholes on various roads in our area, but we got no success from Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) and other entities; for that matter we are getting no service delivery. We then decided with help from EC Security to embark on a project to fix all the potholes on our busy routes.”

The IRR met Baxter last week to learn more about the community initiative.

Look out for our video interview with Baxter, which will be published on our social media platforms and on the Daily Friend YouTube channel this week.

The IRR encourages communities either struggling with getting their municipality to attend to infrastructure and service delivery, or taking the initiative to fix things themselves and thereby acting to stop citizen abuse, to reach out to us. Doing so will enable us to use such examples to inspire other communities and arm us with the real-life examples of citizen abuse that will help to put pressure on the government. Together we can #StopCitizenAbuse.

Issued by Amy-Claire Morton, IRR Content Producer, 12 April 2021