This was carried out during AfriForum’s "national pothole month" in May, wherein all of its branches had participated.
The 16,000 far outdid the organisation’s original target of 12,000 but, said AfriForum’s head of local government Marcus Pawson, when the campaign got underway, it became clear that more work was needed.
Pawson added that the campaign – which saw almost 640,000 kilograms of tar being used – had "strengthened AfriForum’s dual strategy of self-do and being independent from government in communities".
He said: "The strategy, among other things, entails AfriForum’s branches holding government responsible for service delivery. Our branches have to ensure that communities become self-sufficient, among others, through self-do initiatives. To achieve this, legal proceedings against municipalities are sometimes necessary".
Pawson said that at times during the campaign, legal action was taken when municipalities chose not to act on AfriForum’s demand for potholes to be repaired by the district themselves or that they cooperate with the non-profit.
Those municipalities who did heed AfriForum’s call spent some R1,4 million, repairing 5,638 potholes.
"We trust that these and similar campaigns result in positive attitude changes in communities and an improvement in municipal service delivery, but also an increase in self-do projects," said Pawson.
– African News Agency (ANA)
