Yellow rubber ducks, a bagpipe player and dinosaurs made an appearance at a tongue-in-cheek “fishing” competition held at the weekend on a road ridden with potholes in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.

The competition was the brainchild of Curry’s Post Conservancy member Kemsley Wood, who wanted to draw attention to the pothole problem and help raise funds for a clean-up project initiated by the community.

For a R20 donation people were allowed to cast their fishing rods into large potholes which have made driving conditions on the road treacherous.

Two community members raised laughs in their dinosaur costumes while a bagpipe player entertained the locals with tunes.

“As a community we initiated a Curry’s Post Conservancy clean-up project. We wanted to employ local staff to clean the road, pick up the litter and cut the verges, generally tidy up the spot,” said Wood.

“We needed funds to do that so I came up with the idea of a pothole fishing competition."

Wood said the community was keen to pitch in to clean up their surroundings.

“We can’t wait for the municipality to do stuff. We’ve got to do stuff ourselves where we can in terms of tidying up.

“Unfortunately fixing potholes is out of our expertise. You can’t have amateurs doing professionals jobs.

“We were not too successful in raising funds. Things are tight and people don’t have spare cash, but the awareness has been a major success.”

He is not sure whether the awareness drive would propel the fixing of the potholes.

“We are not sure. It is early days. We’ve had no engagement with uMngeni municipality. Hopefully this will make things happen,” said Wood.

The municipality did not immediately respond to a TimesLIVE request for comment.

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