Buffalo City Metro’s pothole backlog

The Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town.
Middelburg farmer Reinardt  Steyn and his two co-accused.
Spaza shop in Soweto.
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, and Digital Technologies Khusela Diko 
Family representative Sibongile Segalo
Spaza shop in Soweto.
Computer illustration of Vibrio cholerae bacteria.
Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya
BUFFALO CITY METRO – 90 percent of Eastern Cape roads are perceived to be gravel roads.
This is not the only challenge facing rural residents of the province.
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People in Buffalo City Metro say even their tarred roads are unbearable to travel on.
They say travelling to East London is proving costly as they spend huge sums on vehicle maintenance.
Authorities say they’re in the process of doing conditional assessments of the roads.
Democratic Alliance councillor Sue Bentley said, “There was the Valazonke Project that was launched to great fanfare in September but it was doomed from the start because we actually owed the people that supply the asphalt money and they therefore cut off the asphalt to us. So, the Valazonke Project was launched and suddenly came to a grinding halt because there was no possibility of that service delivery.”
Road users in residential areas are also not spared from driving on damaged roads. They say Buffalo City Municipality must get its house in order. 
The municipality claims the situation has improved since it repaired 17,000 potholes in the previous financial year but it’s also noted residents’ increasing frustration.
MMC for Infrastructure Yomelela Tyali said, “We know that the citizens of Buffalo City have been crying about the issue of potholes. We have done an assessment of them. We have had a couple of challenges but the main one was an issue of the HOD and that was a vacant post in the office.”
The municipality says a budget of around R54 million has been set to repair road surfaces with a further R37 million set aside for the 2024/2025 financial year.