Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

2 min read | 8:21 pm CAT

South Africans have become despondent with the myriad of challenges they face. A not-for-profit movement is now tackling two of the burning issues we face every day – racism and the dreaded potholes. The Betereinders – Be One Movement is helping to repair South African roads and building relationships in the process. Its goal is reconciliation while fixing potholes with its unique Mix.

In conversation with Radio Islam International, Johan Erasmus said the initiative started a few years ago to get Afrikaners on board to use their skills in the country.

He said many burning issues were tackled, including agriculture and land reform. Another challenge that has been viewed is the potholes.

Regarding the reconciliation of potholes, basic Zulu tutorials are produced to bring people together to do a basic conversational Zulu, amongst others.

According to Erasmus, some activities occur in which the groups try to fix things physically: agriculture and the pothole drive.

There have been success stories, one being the Brandvlei township success story. Brandvlei is a small town in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape, South Africa

According to Erasmus, the supplier of the pothole mix needed the source to mix gravel with. R100 000 was donated and was enough to purchase a cement mixer, including infrastructure and training to assist the guys in the Brandvlei township in producing the pothole mix.

He added that purchases from the public of the pothole mix support a township business.

“The members of Brandvlei have shown for a long time to be resourceful, so we found it was easy to pick them as a potential production plant for the pothole mix,” he says.

Listen below to the interview with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat and Johan Erasmus on Radio Islam’s podcast.