A number of dangerous sinkholes have sprung up on roadways in and around Laudium, with many more appearing by the day, causing residents much distress and resulting in hundreds of thousands of rands in damages to motorists' cars, as well as to properties nearby.
In the latest development, residents and motorists expressed concern to the Laudium Sun over what they called a “deepening dip” on the Military Road, corner of 19th Avenue. The dip is causing much anxiety to motorists who make frequent use of the road, as they are afraid it could develop into a full-blown sinkhole.
One of the anxious residents, Ivan Naidoo, told our paper that he noticed the road surface cracking a while back already. He said he first suspected that an underground pipe had burst, causing the ground to start sinking.
"One day my car hit this dip and it was such a shock to me! I thought my tyres were all flat. That was the day that I stopped using the road," he exclaimed.
Ivan related that he had reported the matter to the Tshwane Roads Department division, requesting them to attend to the problem, but he has not seen any Roads Department workers at the site since that time, nor any sort of improvement to the road.
Some frustrated nearby residents resorted to filling in the dip with sand, but it appears that the hole continues to deepen.
"I think the council is waiting for a tragic incident to happen with someone getting badly hurt, or even killed, before they will come out here and attend to the problem," Ivan fumed.
Another resident, Benny Ndlovu said that he had also complained to the council, on numerous occasions, but had received no response. This is so dangerous. The road could just collapse. A few of us nearby residents resorted to filling in the dip with sand but, as you can see, the sand is also sinking in. The council seriously needs to do something, even cordon off the area, because an accident is inevitable if the situation is allowed to continue like this. I have seen with my own eyes, traffic jams as motorists try to avoid the dip, by going around it, causing dangerous situations for oncoming traffic,” Benny said.
While on the scene, the Laudium Sun reporters noticed that motorists driving cars fitted with 'low profile' tyres chose to rather make u-turns and avoid the road altogether.
Councillor, Mahomed Essop, said he was unaware of the problem with the road, but undertook to advise the relevant council department of the imminent issue.
Crestfallen resident, Ivan Naidoo, is calling on the council to repair the dip in the road,before further damage is caused.
Danger strip: Local motorists are complaining about what they call a ‘deepening dip’ developing on the Military Road, corner 19th Ave, Laudium, which they said poses a serious problem.
The ‘deepening dip’ (now filled with sand) on the corner of Military Road and 19th Ave, is scaring off local motorists.