The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) aims to repair 30 000 potholes by the end of the year.
While some might call this target ambitious, the municipality’s political and department heads believe it is well within reach, thanks to the successful rollout of Operation Vala Zonke in the Eastern Cape metro.
Implemented by the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL), the Department of Transport launched the Vala Zonke campaign in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year. It addresses South Africa’s pothole challenges on an unprecedented scale.
BCMM – which includes East London, provincial capital Bhisho, Qonce (King William’s Town) and the townships of Mdantsane and Zwelitsha – welcomes thousands of local and international tourists each year thanks to its idyllic beaches and rich political and cultural history.
One of its main attractions is the suburb of Gonubie, home to a magnificent river of the same name that flows into the Indian Ocean. Breathtaking scenery and unspoilt stretches of coastline make it a must on every traveller’s itinerary.
Unfortunately, this exquisite location – unquestionably one of the country’s finest – has not escaped South Africa’s pothole scourge.
But all that is about to change.
With Operation Vala Zonke now well and truly up and running in the metro, business owners and motorists will soon be able to benefit from roads completely free of the mini-craters that have blighted Gonubie and other parts of East London for years.
In addition, the arrival of the campaign in the city has created hundreds of employment opportunities for locals, who previously had no knowledge of road maintenance construction.
During a recent site visit to East London, then Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said jobless locals were equipped in skills to perform this vital service and would be able to utilise what they’d learnt when other road construction opportunities arose.
For the youth of the area, a future is opening up in ways they never thought possible.
Zizo Tolbadi has been appointed community liaison officer for the Gonubie pothole project. As a young woman, it has proved a “huge opportunity”.
“Working on this project has been really great, especially since I am a young female. Most of the time you only see males in the construction industry,” she said.
Another woman, Sindisiwe January, who is a participant in the Eastern Cape Department of Transport’s Youth Brigade Programme, describes her involvement as a “beautiful experience”.
“I didn’t even know how to fix potholes. Now I’m learning how to fix them and also about other parts of construction,” she said.
BCMM Executive Mayor, Princess Faku, said it was vital to tackle the pothole problem head on as East London was a place tourists wanted to visit.
So far, the feedback her administration has received from residents has been positive, and she assured those living in other parts of the metro that Operation Vala Zonke would not pass them by.
“We have a target of closing about 30 000 [potholes] by the end of the year,” she said.
One of Gonubie’s biggest problem areas is Oceanway Road. In 2009, the path running alongside this stretch was ravaged by high seas stemming from a coastal tsunami. Storm surges in subsequent years have done little to alleviate the problem.
Luyanda Mbula, BCMM’s head of infrastructure services, recognises that climate change does not do East London’s roads any favours, with those in Gonubie often being submerged in water.
Potholes were the result, but lessons had been learnt and the municipality was now using road materials that were far more durable, he said.
Faku’s view that residents were pleased with what Operation Vala Zonke had achieved to date was corroborated by Ravin Gooranah, the owner of popular East London restaurant, Irana Indian Cuisine.
“Potholes have been affecting businesses, not only mine but everybody’s,” he said.
And he added, “But I am so glad they are fixing them. Yes, it’s going to affect business until they are finished but it will better in the long run.”
