A group of Cape Flats youngsters are fixing their community one pothole at a time.
Equipped with spades and buckets of sand and stones, they walk around to identify which road they should work on.
The group of 10 boys, aged between 12 and 15 years, saw how cars struggled to drive around holes along Blue Downs Way in Hillcrest, Eerste River.
Damian Stalmeester, 12, tells the Daily Voice they had to be proactive after witnessing an accident: “There was an accident not too long ago and we knew it was because of our roads.
“While we were playing in the street, we watched how cars would either drive in the holes or around it, drive off the road or on the oncoming side avoiding the damaged road.
“We came up with a plan of how we can prevent another accident and that was to work on the road.
“The council doesn’t fix the roads properly but we are available.
“We got shovels from our homes and sand and decided to do it ourselves.
“We went looking for sand and we got from mole heaps and then we collected stones.”
His friend Gilberto Oranja, 13, who is in Grade 6, boasts that it’s their job to protect people’s vehicles: “Even though the schools have reopened we come back and continue where we left off.
“Fixing potholes is not just work for us, it is also play time. We love what we do.”
Early in the morning the boys can be seen with spades levelling the surface, some of them still wearing pyjamas.
Damian continues: “Our parents know we are here everyday and they are fine with it. They don’t have cars, but we are doing this for the good of the community.”