I couldn’t agree more with most of what D Govindjee has to say about Paul Kruger Road in Radiokop (the letter is available to read at https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/295456/more-roads-in-terrible-state-in-radiokop/). It’s applicable in most respects to many of the streets in the suburb, Opera Road being another ghastly example.
I do have one issue though, and that’s the following statement: “What is also disappointing is that the thousands of motorists that use this road, including council officials and politicians, do not bother to report road issues to the JRA”.
I, for one, have written to our ward councillor, Leah Knott, and her assistant, Ralph Bittkau, about the state of Amplifier Road. I have also logged a call or two on the JRA cellphone app. None of them bothered to even acknowledge receipt of my correspondence, and of course, nothing has been done about the state of the road.
The sad fact of the matter is that South Africans in general have lost hope. We see no point in wasting our hard-earned money paying for data to lodge our complaints, because they are simply and totally ignored. Nowhere was this hopelessness better illustrated than in the recent election results. In 2009, 77,3 per cent of the registered voter population voted. In 2014, that figure dropped to 73,48 per cent, and in 2019, it dropped even further, to 65,34 per cent. I made a point of encouraging my younger colleagues, friends and family members to vote, and many of them did, but not enough to make the difference that this country so desperately needs.
I sincerely hope that I won’t be around for the next general election – I can’t face the thought of watching my beloved homeland going down the drain faster than my bath water.
