A chunk of an intersection in Valhalla has collapsed after a sinkhole developed at the weekend.
The huge hole at the corner of Vindhella and Hekla roads has been developing since Sunday and has led to the closure of the intersection which is adjacent to two shopping complexes. The SA Air Force Museum is across the road.
On Tuesday, local resident Pieter de Kock said the sinkhole developed on Sunday and kept on growing up until Monday night.
So far two street signs and a section of road have disappeared into the hole.
De Kock said sinkholes were not new for the Valhalla/Thaba Tshwane area. "We have had a few sinkholes in the area over the past few years," he said.
Tshwane Metro Council spokes-person Richard Mkholo said they would be sending out engineers today to assess the damage.
Mkholo said they only became aware of the problems yesterday. "The information we have is that the sinkhole might have been caused by rain," said Mkholo.
Subesh Pillay, mayoral committee member responsible for public works and infrastructure development, visited the site yesterday.
Pillay said proper work on the sinkhole can only be done next week. "There is a need for a proper investigation by geo-technicians to determine the extent of the damage," Pillay said.
He said they would send the Metro Police to cordon off the area. "We will monitor the damage while waiting for the geo-technical team to do its work," he said.
The south-west of Tshwane is no stranger to sinkholes.
Last month after nine months of traffic delays and more than R5-million, a huge sinkhole on the Ben Schoeman highway was finally repaired and the road re-opened.
The 16m sinkhole appeared just before the Jean Avenue off-ramp in February.
Last January Tshwane Emergency Services evacuated the residents of three Centurion townhouses after a sinkhole threatened their safety.
There was extensive damage to the paving of the Alethea Road complex and garden walls of the affected houses. An empty house was also damaged when a wall partially collapsed, causing the roof to crack.
In October 2004 part of a townhouse caved in as a result of a sinkhole in another complex in Alethea Street.
Earlier, Ian Anderson of Geo Scientific and Exploration Services said widespread residential and road construction had resulted in rain water being channelled beneath the ground surface in unusual quantities. "These developments have interfered with the natural drainage system."
"Underground cavities are now being filled with excess water, which erodes the soil, causing sinkholes," he said.
Anderson said an extensive restructuring of the drainage system was needed to prevent the situation from escalating. "Surveys need to be done. Where necessary drainage systems need to be restructured to move excess water away from these areas."