Madam Deputy Speaker, the ANC-led Ekurhuleni Metro is lurching from one delivery crisis to another. The metro has acknowledged ...
Madam Deputy Speaker, I remember you once ruled that members of the gallery should not participate in clapping. Thank you.
That is still the case. Members of the gallery are observers, and they do not participate in the proceedings of the day. Thank you. Hon member?
Thank you, Deputy Speaker. The ANC-led Ekurhuleni Metro is lurching from one delivery crisis to another. The metro has acknowledged that there are at least 800 reported potholes in the Kempton Park area alone and that at least R50 million will be needed to repair these potholes. Some potholes are 10 metres wide and 20 centimetres deep. In fact, last week a municipal refuse removal truck fell into a pothole and could not get out, and had to be pulled out by another refuse removal truck.
The consequences of failed ANC policy and cadre deployment are daily occurrences for the drivers and commuters of Ekurhuleni, with drivers having to swerve continuously across roads in order to prevent their vehicles from being damaged.
Unless the ANC-led metro council starts taking drastic and immediate action to repair our roads, we will soon pass the tipping point where the cost of repair becomes unmanageable. This is a direct result of the ANC-led government's lax attitude towards effecting maintenance. [Interjections.] No, you fix it; you are in power there!
The typical cost of maintaining roads where maintenance is done timeously, is R100 000 per kilometre. If the road is left for three years, the cost rises to R600 000, and if the road is left for a further five years, it will rise to R1,8 million per kilometre. A bad road also costs motorists twice as much in time, safety and operational costs as a good one, not to mention road fatalities.
It is high time the ANC in Ekurhuleni rolled up its sleeves and started delivering. I thank you. [Applause.]