Rishi Pooran planted a banana tree in one of the many potholes on his street in the hopes that it would get the attention of his local municipality.
Durban, South Africa (26 October 2020) – It is not the first time we have shared a story about ridiculous potholes in South Africa. This time, Rishi Pooran is the man behind the pothole post that has gone viral.
Rishi has had problems getting two municipalities to take his neighbourhood’s pothole issue seriously. Every time a pipe bursts, the road is left pocketed by little craters. His pleas for assistance fall on deaf ears so he decided to use social media to his advantage and get creative with the pothole.
He started growing banana trees and planting them in the potholes around his neighbourhood. Having seen his municipality take time out of their days to join in the Jerusalema challenge, he decided to challenge his neighbours to join him in planting trees within the potholes.
“Here is my challenge. We had the Jerusalema challenge our officials took it on now I urge the residents to do same. Our town has been neglected by the official in charge of the various dept. They planning for city status in 2030. Most of the officials only work in the municipality but live in affluent areas/estate. It doesn’t affect their service delivery. Our complaints with pictures and videos have been sent to both municipalities to date ignored. Our officials that drive around are not observant of these problems.”
Rishi’s post was shared by several media outlets and got the attention he was hoping it would. He explained that the iLembe Municipality would come in and fix the burst water pipes but then the KwaDakuza Municipality, which is in charge of road maintenance, wouldn’t get the memo to repair the road.
Rishi had shared his post on the 18th of October and by the 20th of October, he was able to share a photo of a team repairing the potholes outside his home. So, for now, it appears to have been a success.
Rishi encourages others to join his challenge so that South African officials will take notice and start doing their jobs. He specifically chose a banana tree to symbolise the “banana republic” he feels South Africa is becoming.
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