Tourists love our potholes

THE frontpage headline “BCM declares war on potholes” (DD, December 6) refers. I phone my good friend Archie at the BCM and said “Archie, do you really believe this?”

His reply was, “John, there is big trouble here. The BCM tourism department is adamant it does not want the potholes repaired as they are a tourist attraction. Visitors from all over SA come to East London to view our potholes as they have never seen anything like them, and in doing so spend millions in our city.

“The tourism department says it wants more and bigger potholes so money can keep pouring into our coffers.” Makes sense to me. — John Batting, via e-mail

I’M very happy to see BCM is finally getting off its backside and addressing the pothole issue but, as usual, it only talks about the suburbs in East London. What about the pothole-riddled streets in King William’s Town? Some roads are virtually impassable and the big trucks that make use of the residential roads damage them even further.

Since King and East London were joined to form the metro, King William’s Town has gotten a raw deal. Little ever gets done in King William’s Town. The grass is seldom cut, I report potholes which are sometimes filled and other times it is months before they are filled. The town is filthy, the monuments are not kept neat and tidy.

There is a lot of history in our small town and many tourists come to King William’s Town to either visit the Steve Biko Centre, the museum, the many war memorials and the beautiful churches we have. But the town is neglected and run down and dirty.

I was born here and am ashamed to say I live in King William’s Town. For the metro executives and the mayor and his mayoral committee the focus of Buffalo City is East London, Mdantsane and Duncan Villiage, little else seems to matter.

The residents of King William’s Town pay rates and taxes – and pay dearly – but do not get the services. Why? King is the capital of the Eastern Cape, many government offices are situated here but you’d never say so. There is no pride in our town. King serves as a hub for many towns and villages. Thousands of people pass through the town daily.

Come on BCM, pull up your socks. Remember King is part of the metro. Our streets badly need fixing. — Annette Rademeyer, DA PR councillor, BCM