This week, blue signs appeared on roads in Louis Trichardt to warn motorists of potholes in the road. Each warning sign read ”Pothole WARNING!"

The warning signs, however, had a short lifetime. The Makhado Municipality jumped into action and removed the signs as soon as they became aware of them.

Each sign had a DA emblem at the bottom. Local Democratic Alliance Councillor Brian du Plooy shed some light on the pothole warning project.

“We planted the signs on Sunday evening (16th) at 20:00 and they were removed on Monday around 14:00. Our concern about the vast deterioration of our local roads in the Louis Trichardt area caused us to put up warning signs at potholes. We counted around 1500 potholes in Louis Trichardt and Tshikota about six months ago. The figure does not even include the potholes in Vleifontein,” Du Plooy said on Monday (17th).

The DA issued a media statement regarding their struggle with the Makhado Municipality to get the town’s roads into an acceptable condition.

“About six months ago, the DA prepared a census on potholes and asked a question in Council regarding the fixing of potholes; as yet no answer has been received. The DA also asked the municipality for a maintenance plan and action list in August 2010, and none has been forthcoming. Is the priority of fixing potholes such a huge task? Is the lack of maintenance of the roads the result of ignorance? Are the public servants incapable and dysfunctional in their positions? ... We need directors and public servants to fulfil their job descriptions properly,” state the DA.

Cllr du Plooy said that, by planting warning signs, the DA attempted to make community members and tourists aware of the danger of the potholes on their route.

The Department of Transport said in December last year that around one in every 12 fatal accidents (8,02%) in South Africa is directly related to the poor conditions of roads in South Africa The Automobile Association says that 60km of every 100km of the country’s road network of more than 550 000km is damaged or has potholes. The backlog on the maintenance of roads, excluding national roads, is R110 billion (www.privateprojects.co.za).

Spokesperson for the Makhado Municipality Mr Louis Bobodi commented on the state of potholes in town on Monday. “We have just completed our audit on the extent of the potholes on the town’s roads. The continuous rainfall that we are experiencing is not making the situation any better. As a temporary measure, we have employed temporary workers who are trying to maintain the streets in town and other areas by cleaning up. Following the audit, we are trying to source funds to appoint contractors this year to fix the potholes as a permanent measure. We will need R8million to fix the potholes,” Bobodi said.

The Makhado Municipality was also asked to comment on the removal of the DA’s signs. Bobodi said that it was the municipality’s responsibility to put up sign boards and that the DA did not apply to have the boards put up. Cllr Du Plooy later confirmed that they had not applied at the municipality to have the signs erected.

Du Plooy said, however, that he found it exceptional that the municipality immediately had a vehicle available for removing the signs, but in other cases a shortage of vehicles was the reason given for the lack of service delivery. “I find it strange that the DA signs were removed immediately but other disreputable notices are not removed even when brought to the attention of the municipality. Actually, I am elated to find that there are vehicles available and that the municipality is capable of acting with speed, even if it was in a situation that left them red-faced,” Du Plooy said.