The state of the roads in Marikana (Sithembile, Glencoe) is worsening and with the rainy season approaching, residents fear they will be unable to leave the area.
Marikana resident, Nonhlanhla Sibanyoni, spoke about how difficult it was for her and her six-year-old daughter, whose school transport driver refuses to enter the area due to the damage the roads cause to his vehicle.
“Most vehicles refuse to pick our children up at the gate because the roads are undriveable. The situation gets worse during summer in the rainy season when we to take our kids to the main road and wait for their transport.”
Endumeni Municipality’s Acting Technical Manager, Mzwandile Ntanzi, said due to budget constraints, the municipality was unable to upgrade the road network within the municipal area.
“The municipality does conduct maintenance in all areas and we understand there is a huge backlog with all our infrastructure services. In Marikana in particular, roads were built before the houses were built and were damaged during the construction of houses. With regards to the gravel roads, we have developed a roster which will be approved by Council and communicated in due course. This roster covers all areas including urban, rural or farm.”
McGyver Pillay, a head of department at the South African National Civic Organisation, explained how the cries of Marikana residents had fallen on deaf ears.
“Most roads in Sithembile are really bad, especially Juba Street and the entire Marikana area. Endumeni Municipality needs a wake-up call. It is surprising it now speaks of budget constraints when the money for the roads was in 2015/2016 budget. Where did those funds go? Not so long ago, the municipality was saying there was no grader and now that the grader has been bought, it comes up with another excuse.”
ALSO READ: Mud-spattered roads in Marikana
See below for a visual of the roads’present state:
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