VANDERBIJLPARK. – The small tar road that runs past Nanescol Cemetery has been reduced to a muddy mess because of the sudden influx of traffic to this cemetery.
Most of the cemeteries in Vanderbijlpark are full, which has forced the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) to divert people to the Nanescol Cemetery.
ELM spokesperson Paseka Rakosa admits that the road, now riddled with muddy potholes, was never meant to carry high volumes of traffic or heavy vehicles. Baba Jansen, who lives across from the cemetery, describes the road as “impassable”.
“After the buses drive past for funerals the road looks almost like a dirt road,” says Jansen. “We have already had two burst tyres because of the potholes in the road.”
Jansen says that she has lived on her property for the last 19 years and they never had any problems until recently. “The value of my property will now go down because the road is in such a state.”
Jansen believes that the municipality should fix the road. However, when she contacted ELM on different occasions, she was allegedly given too many different answers as to what the municipality plans to do about the road.
According to Jansen, the municipality initially told her that the road would be tarred by March 12.
“We have now been waiting for longer than two months for them to do this,” said Jansen. “They promise and promise and promise, but don’t do anything.”
Jansen was later told that the municipality would not tar the road as the traffic will dissipate in September when the cemetery has reached its capacity. Jansen doesn’t believe that the cemetery will be full by September as there is still a large, unused area left.
“Besides, the road now frequently floods when it rains. If we have to wait until September for the municipality to fix the road we will have to cross it in a little boat one of these day.”
Rakosa has confirmed that the road will not be tarred soon, because this “has not been included in the municipality’s budget for the financial year”.
Because the cemeteries in Vanderbijlpark have reached their limit, the municipality will “develop new cemeteries” for the community and people will be diverted away from the Nanescol Cemetery, said Rakosa. This will alleviate the volume of traffic on the road.
He could not confirm whether the Nanescol Cemetery would be full by September.
News source: Mooivaal media – Vaalweekblad