For the last two years, the Herald has been reporting on plans by RAL to repair the road as it was earmarked “to receive upgrades after the new financial year with various options being looked at”. However, these plans seem to have halted. Residents say that driving on the road in a small car has become almost impossible. Naomi Excell from Agri Letaba said that the situation is worsening by the day. “We wrote numerous letters to Limpopo’s public works department and RAL with no feedback from them.
“We highlighted statistics to consider: Farms on the road, job creation, production, exports, and so forth. We gave a brief summary of accidents reported, highlighting the fatalities, and included RAL’s own assessment report from 2020.” She says that all of Agri Letaba’s correspondence and enquiries went unanswered. “Numbers provided on the internet go unanswered. After the latest heavy rainfall and floods, I believe the situation has worsened and the shoulder (off-road) is now also impassable.”
Also read: Years of empty promises from Road Agency Limpopo
Agri Letaba and the Greater Tzaneen Municipality have tried to schedule a meeting with RAL and the department to discuss the road and schedule a site visit, Excell said. Herald contacted RAL spokesperson, Maropeng Manyathela, on the progress of the road since the last reporting on it. “A consultant has been appointed and is currently busy with the designs for road P43/3 from Selwane to Eiland. The project has been assigned project number T990,” he said. This was exactly the same response given last year when the Herald enquired about the progress of the road.
Herald also contacted the Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure spokesperson, Witness Tiva, on the plans for the road. “A consultant has been appointed for P43/3, which is T2-tech and they are busy with detailed designs. The road description is Letaba Ranch to Eiland T1304,” he said. The Herald also enquired about the state of Deerpark road. No response was received.
