The already poor road system in Buffelshoek Village has deteriorated even more as a result of the recent heavy rain.
The floods have damaged the water infrastructure and drainage systems, and washed away the gravel road, which makes it difficult for the residents to access public transport and visit services like clinics and police stations.
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On Sunday February 12, a community member who chose to remain anonymous, said the flooding does not only cause severe damage to poor roads, but exposes the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality’s (BLM) failure to deliver services.
“Every time elections are approaching, the municipality sells us dreams and promises us proper services, but when it is time to really provide them, they vanish into thin air. We are tired of facing these challenges, but we have a municipality and the leaders must do their work. We are pleading with the municipality to tar the main road to enable us to use public transport and to be able to reach public services.”
He said the roads makes life difficult, especially elderly people. “It is bad because our grannies and aunts have to walk more than 5km in order to reach public transport, and it is inconveniencing to them. What will happen if one gets sick? They won’t be able to get help as ambulances will not be able to reach a village with disastrous roads like these.”
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Another community member, Madubula Hlabane, said scholar transports cannot reach their village. “My son is attending school at Acorn Oaks, but due to the road situation here we have to leave very early in the morning to walk about 4km before we can get transport to school.”
BLM’s spokesperson Fhumulani Thovhakale said the municipality is aware of the situation and plans are in place.
“We aware about the damage that was caused by the heavy rain we experienced on our road infrastructure, not only in Buffelshoek, but all over Bushbuckridge.
After the initial damage early in January, we started working to rehabilitate some of the damaged streets and rebuilt some culvert bridges, but recently we had to stop because of persistent rain.
We will work on the road in this community, but for now, since we can’t work. We will be attending to those damaged roads and culvert bridges when the weather permits.”
