Residents’ concerns about railway siding in Mjejane reportedly go unheard

Community members say they are left in limbo while developments are seemingly ongoing at the railway siding in Mjejane, formerly known as Hectorspruit.

Construction work recently commenced on the railway site for the Hectorspruit railway chrome siding that had been introduced to the community by Oxior Rails in 2023.

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Although the community was vocal about their environmental concerns regarding the siding, it seems that construction might be going ahead regardless.

The Hectorspruit Business Chamber’s Zelma D’Hollander said they are not against the development of the town, they only need their concerns to be addressed and no one is willing to answer any questions.

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“We have written numerous letters to the Nkomazi Local Municipality [NLM] and we couldn’t even get any acknowledgement. It got to a point where the letter was handed to the director of the Department of Economic Development, Jerry Khoza. Even then, we still did not receive any formal communication from anyone, but the work is seemingly ongoing,” she said.

Even though the siding belongs to Oxior Rails, D’Hollander said the NLM should know what is going on as it is responsible for leasing the land.

“We understand that the municipality itself is not the one building the siding, but during one of the previous integrated development plan meetings, the executive mayor told us about the project. This means that they are aware, and as the landlord, they should be informed of the developments and be able to have the answers as well.”

It is estimated that the siding will see an average of seven or eight trucks entering the town per hour, making it roughly 240 trucks in 24 hours. One of the residents’ main concerns is the maintenance of the town’s infrastructure.

“The high volume of traffic from heavy motor vehicles through the main street, which will be the result of this siding, will damage the road. It’s a small road as it is and if we are to have the siding inside the town, the companies involved would have to look at upgrading the road. The pollution is also an area of concern. The unacceptable noise levels caused by the increased truck traffic on the main road of Hectorspruit as well as the operations on the siding, which we assume to be 24/7, are also high on the list of things we would like to discuss. We are not saying there shouldn’t be a siding, we are simply saying there are people who live in Hectorspruit and they also need to be considered in all the developments,” she added.

Some of the construction work done at the siding.

The NLM’s spokesperson, Cyril Ripinga, said he was not aware of any developments on the site.

“We have leased the land to the company and are not aware of any developments that have started to take place. We will, however, look into it to see how best it can be navigated with everyone’s best interests at heart.”

This publication reached out to Oxior Rails’ Bonginkosi Shongwe, who said he was also not aware of any construction taking place on-site, but referred the paper to Oxior’s consulting company, GAP Development Planners.

“Anything that has to do with public participation or the work on-site would best be dealt with by them.”

Attempts were made to reach out to GAP’s Werner Mostert, but he had not responded to the enquiry by the time of publishing.