The City of Cape Town is battling a recurring trench being dug on busy Baden Powell Drive by protesters.
On Saturday morning, an unsuspecting motorist drove into the 1.5m-deep trench.
The City says it started last Wednesday when protesters dug a massive gat between Mew Way and Walter Sisulu Drive, Khayelitsha, making it impassable and which resulted in the road being closed.
Mayco member for Urban Mobility, Rob Quintas, says the City’s Road Infrastructure Management (RIM) department fixed it but the trench has been dug up twice since then.
“Repair work will commence as soon as clarity is provided on the perpetrators’ demands and the City can ensure the trench is not reopened as was the case on Thursday and Wednesday when it was resurfaced and dug up again.”
Quintas says teams first needed to assess whether it was safe for City staff and vehicles to return to the site. This after a City vehicle was stoned on Thursday, whilst leaving the location after the road was fixed.
However, he says a deeper and wider hole was dug soon after the crew left.
“Proper trench reinstatement needs to be implemented from the excavation level to the asphalt road surface including all road layers. The burnt surfaces on the road also need to be assessed and repaired. The road will only be repaired once calm has been restored and the community agrees to not further damaging the road. We call on the residents to stop the vandalism and to allow us to do the repair work,” Quintas says.
Mayco member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says chaos erupted on the road in the early hours of Saturday, the scene of recent violent protests relating to a new housing development, dogged by extortion allegations.
The Metro Police Tactical Response Unit was despatched and discovered a trench had been dug across the entire width of the road, approximately 1.5m deep, which had caused an accident after a motorist had driven into it.
“Such a trench can only have been created so quickly, where power tools and heavy construction machinery was used. Metro Police continued protecting staff from our Roads and Stormwater department, while they filled the trench and restored the road during the day,” said Smith.
The trench has now been temporarily filled while that particular section of the R310 has been closed until further notice.Nd