Municipality not responsible for poor roads off Maitland Street
P Erasmus, Blanco:
It has been many months since the George Municipality gave any attention to the sand roads at the top of Maitland Street in Blanco, yet millions of our taxes are spent on non-essential upgrades
- such as are currently underway in Caledon Street. All that it would take is a monthly drive-through with a grader to provide relief and at no great cost to the municipality. Some of these cursed potholes are 30cm deep and in places the road "shoulder" has been totally worn away because of motorists' attempts to avoid the craters. In desperation some of us have spent a small fortune in purchasing aggregate, but it is almost ineffectual as the damage is just too severe.
And yet we pay our rates and taxes! But for our hard-earned pennies we further don't have the luxury of refuse removal, which results in illegal dumping such as is happening on an increasing scale at the top of the squatter camp in Golden Valley.
In the last month, I have made 13 calls to the municipality and the roads department where if you are lucky enough to not have the phone put down in your ear, you leave a message, but your calls and messages are quite simply never returned!
I have lost a boarder who simply could not endure further damage to his vehicle. A second tenant is threatening to leave as the road is impassable. If I have any damage, I will certainly sue the relevant authorities for the repairs. Possibly we residents should all band together and refuse to pay our municipal accounts?
Director of Civil Engineering Services, Reggie Wesso, responds:
George Municipality is under no obligation to maintain the section of road pointed out by the complainant as this forms part of a private road, i.e. it is not a public road and does not fall under the responsibility of George Municipality. This was confirmed by information received from the Surveyor-General and we will be happy to meet on site to clarify the matter further.