According to Spencer Banda, representing AfriSolidarity, an organisation made up of a number of residents of Pharare, they were not consulted regarding the route of the internal street. They also have issues with how the project steering committee was elected.
“The route that they have started construction on is not a used route, it is not on the road to schools and businesses. “The route we have been fighting for would be better as it is in an area that has businesses, is used by taxis and community members with vehicles.” We have been sent pillar to post and now they say it is too late to change it. We also have issues with how the steering committee was elected, the community was not involved in the process. Worse, the people employed do not all come from Pharare.”
He said they wanted to meet with the municipality to give them a petition signed by aggrieved community members but were not given an appointment. Banda said Pharare residents were also left out of the bidding process for work on the project which should have first looked at residents before hiring outside.
Greater Tzaneen Municipality spokesperson, Neville Ndlala, said no route was changed. “We have stuck to the original plan presented to the community and were informed of the views of the community.”
Ndlala said the route that Banda wants to be upgraded does not fall under the jurisdiction of the municipality and can therefore not be constructed. That specific road falls under the provincial government’s jurisdiction.
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He said they tried a number of options to see if it would work but since the funds come from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) it cannot be used on other projects than municipal infrastructure.
“The affected communities of Pharare, Nkambako and Mandhlakazi were asked to identify the internal roads they want to be constructed. These worked with councillors and other stakeholders such as taxi operators to identified routes.
These were brought to the municipality and we agreed we would work on those routes.” “In the case of Pharare, it is not possible to change the route now. We have advertised a tender based on that route, our appointments are based on the said route and we cannot change the scope of work in the middle of a contract as this can be costly.
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He said the municipality’s project managing unit manager had been on site to look into the issues and there had been thorough consultation.
“You cannot complain and say you were not consulted if you do not attend the meetings convened with all stakeholders.” He said in terms of subcontractors, “they were appointed by the service provider in conjunction with the project steering committee. “We only have a relationship with the contractor and not the subcontractor, we were not involved in the other processes, we only receive reports,” said Ndlala.
