I sense a song in there somewhere; maybe someone can come up with the rest of the lyrics…
Potholes have been much in the news recently, all over South Africa. We used to have arguably the most advanced and highly developed road network in the whole of Africa. But our tar is mysteriously vanishing, leaving gaping holes all over the place.
I just took delivery of a new car; and it’s become imperative to not only keep a keen watch for mini-bus taxi’s and tow-trucks gunning to wipe you off the road, but to also hone my pot-hole-avoidance skills. And I think I have discovered the trick to avoiding them (the potholes, that is) – obey the recommended following distance from the car in front of you (you know, the 1001, 1002 rule?). That way you will be able to see any potholes clearly behind the car in front; and enjoy a laugh watching it occasionally hit them.
However, having just discovered that trick, could someone tell me how to prevent the mini-bus taxi drivers from filling that gap between me and the car in front, which they think I have left for them to squeeze into? It’s a riot when they hit a pothole in the process, but not so funny when I happen to hit one they have obscured from my view, by brazenly appropriating the following distance I was meticulously maintaining. You just can’t win, can you?
While the disappearing tar is something of a mystery, why the holes left behind are not fixed, is no mystery at all. Where is the money to come from, with the government expropriating tax revenues for more important things like luxury cars and houses for themselves, tenders for their friends and family, roads for their country houses, re-naming of mostly potholed streets, lavish parties, useless conferences, even more useless advisors, hiring of common thugs for personal protection, more lavish parties, overseas trips, dictator-style motorcades, hiring of incompetent CEO’s to run state utilities, golden hand-shakes for self-same CEO’s as and when they’re fired, and the list goes on…
Our asshole politicians! What I wouldn’t give to see them all disappear forever down a massive pothole?
Lenny Says 