Omar Fourie (@omardanielfourie) — Steemit
https://steemit.com/@omardanielfourie
Driving in Orania
Bad roads and, let us just say ‘not so good drivers’, or drivers with issues in Orania. But more about the drivers in town perhaps a bit later.
Road maintenance is an issue in most small towns in South Africa these days. I suppose it takes a lot of resources like money, man-power, organization of companies that can deliver all the things needed to put a road down, or to fix it.
(Just as an aside. I think that if municipalities/town councils retained their capacity to use man-power – general labourers that work for the municipality/council – and retained resources to build and maintain roads, they could do the job of road building or at the very least road maintenance. These municipalities/councils had this capacity, but have lost it and is now reliant on outsourcing; either on purpose (by design) or through bad management: thereby creating the classic TENDER culture so prevalent in the South African government.)
But, of course, the Orania government and municipal set-up is quite different. It certainly has the man-power and it also has the resources in terms of money, if you consider the amount of large scale building projects that are happening at the moment in Orania. Fixing roads and building new ones are obviously projects that are not that simple (as local towns know) and are massive undertakings, but…
Snap, crackle and POP…
Woe is he that does not have a bakkie to get around in town. If you have a bakkie then the large tyre size and bigger chassis does help the bumps and cracks and lumps at every turn. If you have a smaller car, a sedan or hatchback then you’ll start to learn a whole range of swear words whilst you are driving around town…
Snap, crackle and POP…
Woe the poor person (often really, actually indigent) who drives around in an older car. What an effect on the under-carriage of that car, what an effect on the tyres, shocks and alignment when they drive on Orania’s roads.
As mentioned a bakkie is recommended (and it is sooo popular in this neck of the woods) or a SUV, or light SUV.
Snap, crackle and POP, doef-doef-doef, Uuurrrggghh!!!
What an impact on your car, on your pocket (and the Orania economy is already so small) and of course when something goes wrong your car and it will, its costs a lot of money to repair and more often and not you’ll have to go to the adjacent town (Hopetown), or city (Kimberley) to get those part(s)…or at least wait for the part(s) to come to Orania.
I suppose this is ALSO a situation that can and probably does occur in other small towns, but yet it is also the case in Orania and something prospective denizens/townsfolk need to keep in mind when making plans to move to town.
- Omar Daniel Fourie, 24 June 2018.
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