Hole created after February month downpours remains a nightmare for residents to date

TAFELKOP – Residents in Tafelkop’s Ba-Gakopa section outside Groblersdal are crying Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality’s (EMLM) disservice after they have been confronted with a problem of a huge hole near their yards for months.

According to the residents several of their attempts to report the matter to the local authority bore no fruits since they started encountering the problem in February during heavy down pours.

The residents now fear that as days go by, without attention to their plight, the hole increasingly poses a safety threat for them, their children and livestock.

Thwini Rakgetse, an affected resident, said he reported the matter to EMLM on 29 February 2020 when the hole took form.

Rakgetse said they have since been awaiting for assistance from the local municipality to close up the hole which renders access to their homes a nightmare.

“I have been faced with a problem of having to park my car more than 300 meters away from the house because I can’t drive past there. We are forced to carry groceries, off-loaded from vehicles, by hands into our homes because now, with the hole continuing to expand, not even a wheelbarrow can pass through there,” said Rakgetse.

The concerned resident added that the hole’s existence is putting residents’ safety at high risk, especially that of children.

“Just last week, a cow fell into the opening and fractured severely. That tells that our safety is compromised by the neglected hole. We need help before something goes terribly wrong. All we want is the municipality to attend to our problem,” said Rakgetse.

However, Simon Makua, EMLM Public Relations and Communications Manager, when sent a message about the problem on Wednesday, 06 May 2020 morning, said the matter was new to them.

Makua requested contact details of the affected resident(s) and where exactly the hole was, and promised the paper to liaise with them.