By Emily Setona
QWAQWA – The community of Elite comes together to fix the potholes in their residential area. The Elitians as they call themselves have a local organizing committee (LOC) that is committed to seeing that their pothole infested roads are fixed.
According to Buti Mahlaba a member of the LOC, this committee was formed during 2020 and task teams were developed to deal with things such as getting rid of dumping sites and the fixing of potholes. “We are fixing these potholes because the work we did in 2020 has since deteriorated, our role as the LOC is to make sure that we keep our roads in good condition and get rid of dumping sites in Elite,” Mahlaba said.
The resources needed are bought from donations made by residents, several households contribute either money, their time as volunteers or offer food and refreshments to the team busy fixing the potholes.
When speaking to The Guard David Mahapa who is a resident of Elite and volunteer said; “This project is an initiative started by the residents of Elite and since it began in 2020 COVID-19 hindered our efforts and the recent heavy rains have since destroyed our efforts that is why we have come back to fix the potholes. Everyone here is a volunteer and residents have contributed in different ways like buying cement, making a financial contribution or preparing food for the team that is hard at work. All these efforts are made by the community.”
Pastor Mary who is the ward councillor responsible for the community of Elite had this to say; “It is the duty and responsibility of the municipality to ensure that there is service delivery for our communities but when residents stand up and take responsibility of their own community it is a good thing. Such efforts should make the municipality do some introspection, because people shouldn’t have to beg for service delivery.”
“Today I have decided to bring lunch for the hard-working team just as a token of appreciation because their work of fixing the potholes is saving our cars from needing the constant cost of replacing damaged tyres,” Kedibone Sentle who is also a resident of Elite.
