Blyvoor residents repair roads and push for official town status

Residents of Blyvooruitzicht have begun repairing the town’s roads themselves and are campaigning to have Blyvoor formally recognised as a town so they can access resources and services, according to The Citizen (Carletonville Herald).

Community-led repairs after years of neglect

The community, which the article says has been left to manage since the closure of the local mine, started repairing massive potholes in the past week with help from a local business. The repairs were carried out by members of a group calling itself the Concerned Community Leadership, named in the article as Thabo Mashigo, Welcome Jikwana Zamokulunga and Simon Ncube.

“We, as Blyvoor leadership, have decided to take on the challenges of our community in our own hands by trying to fix the roads,”

Background: a town left without clear responsibility

The Citizen (Carletonville Herald) reports that Blyvooruitzicht is a former mining town abandoned after the Blyvooruitzicht gold mine was liquidated in 2013. Although a company called Blyvoor Gold later took over two of the mine’s old shafts, the article says neither that company nor the government took responsibility for the town.

Because of this, residents say the Merafong City Local Municipality considers Blyvooruitzicht to be private property and not within its sphere of governance, which the community says has contributed to the lack of municipal road maintenance.

Campaign for town status and past legal action

Residents are campaigning to have Blyvoor declared an official town and say they are prepared to take the matter to the High Court, according to The Citizen (Carletonville Herald). The article also notes that residents previously worked with the NGO Lawyers for Human Rights to compel the Merafong City Local Municipality to maintain a basic water supply.

The Citizen (Carletonville Herald) reports that the Housing Development Agency examined whether and how Blyvoor could be declared a town, but residents say the municipality has not released the final report on those findings.

How to help

The Citizen (Carletonville Herald) published contact details for residents coordinating the effort: Thabo Mashigo at 076 607 8662 and Welcome Jikwana at 083 657 1679.

What this reflects

The actions in Blyvooruitzicht form part of a broader pattern of civic engagement in which communities take direct action when they believe service delivery has failed, The Citizen (Carletonville Herald) reports.