I WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

He's 82 and has back problems but that hasn't stopped Rainer going out to fix potholes every day 

- JACQUES MYBURGH

HE PATROLS the leafy suburb in an Audi, armed with a pickaxe, a shovel and a bag of asphalt. His eyes scan the road, looking for targets – and because he’s in Joburg it doesn’t take long before he pulls up alongside the bane of motorists everywhere: a pothole. 

Rainer Dixel steps out of his car, pulls on his hat and walks to his trailer to extract his tools. Legs spread, feet planted firmly, he swings his pickaxe, scattering stones and bits of tar. 

Squatting, he proceeds to fill the hole with asphalt he’s bought at his local hardware store. He stamps it down with a metal tamper tool, wipes the sweat from his brow and steps back to admire his handiwork. It’s backbreaking work for anyone, let alone a man of 82 – but Rainer isn’t about to sit back and do nothing. 

“I see what’s happening in my neighbourhood and it’s not helping things to complain all the time,” the retired mechanical engineer says. “While I still can, I want to make a difference.