Mr Willie Agenbacht, chairperson of the Gister-se-Jeugklub (Yesterday’s Youth Club), sent in the following letter, directed to the Makhado municipal manager:

We are directing this letter to you to bring an important matter to your attention.

Although Gister-se-Jeugklub may not represent a significant portion of the residents of Louis Trichardt and surroundings, we feel that the thoughts we will express will represent the thinking of more than just a significant portion of inhabitants to whom services are provided.

Some of us have not been in town for quite so many years, but some of us have spent a great deal of our working careers and all of our retirement here. Some of us were even born here. Whatever the case may be, we have always been proud of our town and, where possible, we have done our part to enhance the appearance of our environment. Not even to mention the fact that we have always paid our municipal accounts, which, I think, is something that cannot be said of all residents.

As far as scenery is concerned, we live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Consequently, we draw visitors in the form of friends and relatives from various remote areas. We take these people out to see all the lovely places and other attractions, which they rave about. But, oh my word! When we get back into town, we are welcomed by hole upon hole in the streets! Visitors do not rave about that! The perception has always been that when a driver keeps swerving from left to right on the road, he is probably drunk. In Louis Trichardt the standing joke is that if someone drives straight, he is certainly drunk, because only a drunken person would be prepared to do that to a vehicle.

Furthermore, we have events like the Kremetart Cycle Tour and others coming up, which will again draw visitors from all over the country. We are sure that if you lodge an active repair campaign right away, by the time these events take place, the roads will be much less of an embarrassment to yourself and also us. We would prefer to be proud of our town, rather than to be embarrassed.