Residents forced to pitch in and repair their own roads

LIMPOPO – More and more communities in the Vhembe area seem to be coming up with their own plans to repair roads. On September 16, the communities of Makwarani and Tsianda took it upon themselves to start gravelling the 3,2 km main road to the villages – all resources and labour paid from their own pockets.

For years they complained about how difficult it was to travel to and from their homes with the road being in such poor condition due to rain damage. Learners, teachers and people who travel long distances everyday to get to school and work, were sometimes delayed for hours because busses and taxis could not access the road. Such was the state of the road that motorists had to dig deep into their pockets to maintain their vehicles. Only those with bakkies were able to travel on the bumpy gravel road without getting stuck or damaging their vehicles.

Darius Mankwe, a local taxi driver lamented on the state of the road and told CV that he had to change his vehicle’s tyres every six months because of the state of the roads.

Ester Sinyegwe, community leader of Makwarani concurred that the road was so bad during the rain seasons that it was a struggle to get around for many people.

“It was a real challenge for the bus to travel on that road. That is why we ended up saying that, since the municipality is failing us, we’d better not sit back but rather try to help ourselves.”

The last straw for residents was seemingly when the Thulamela and Makhado Local Municipalities apparently told them that their road is not on its priority list of those that need to be repaired. Communities from this area are threatening to boycott the coming local elections.

They finished gravelling the road on September 26, and residents are satisfied with their own work. Despite several attempts, the spokesperson of Thulamela Municipality, Nndwamato Tshiila could not be reached for comment.