Paving in North West

Dolomite: seal the surface and move the water

A 2016 study counted 5,693 stands affected by dolomite in what is now JB Marks (Potchefstroom), and in April 2026 a leaking water pipe in Stilfontein caused sinkholes on the N12. On dolomite, the aim is to stop water entering the ground at any one spot.

The Department of Public Works' PW344 manual sets out how state projects on dolomite handle hard surfaces. It isn't a rule for private homes, but it's a useful benchmark when you brief an installer:

• Ground beside a building falls more than 3% over the first 3 m, and no water may pond anywhere on the site.
• Brick and concrete paving is laid over a 250-micron HDPE lining, so water passing the joints doesn't reach the soil.
• Downpipes discharge into concrete-lined channels, never onto open ground.
• Joints between paving and the building are sealed.

Grass blocks and permeable pavers are the wrong tools here

Permeable pavers and grass blocks exist to put rain into the ground, which is exactly what the dolomite guidance above tries to prevent. The same applies to a sunken patch of pavers: on dolomite, ask a plumber to check for leaking pipes before you pay for a lift-and-relay, and report new hollows or cracks in the ground to the municipality.

Rustenburg black clay under a driveway

The black clay of the Rustenburg area, weathered from norite, is listed among the most highly expansive soils in South Africa, and its dominant mineral is smectite, which swells as it takes up water. Under paving, that means a surface that can lift when the clay wets and drop when it dries, unevenly if one part of the driveway gets wetter than the rest.

Ask each installer what they found when they dug a test hole, how deep they'll excavate, and whether they'll replace clay with imported base material. A quote that says nothing about the clay hasn't allowed for it.

Rustenburg: paving in the road reserve

Rustenburg Local Municipality's wayleave policy, still marked as a draft in its August 2020 version, lists paving, bollards, garden walls and accesses to developments built by private property owners in the public road reserve among the works that fall under its wayleave process. Check with the municipality before any work goes beyond your boundary.