AT the time of writing, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) had not yet offered clarity regarding a confusing announcement that construction on the N2 Wild Coast toll road would start in September next year.
Rural Development and Land Reform minister Gugile Nkwinti made this announcement at a meeting at Mbizana last week, He added that, if legal matters surrounding the controversial project proved a stumbling block, the project would be deferred until 2017. He was referring to the fact that fraud allegations relating to statements that Sanral had submitted in court about the proposed N2 Wild Coast toll route were being investigated.
The meeting itself sparked controversy and objections from the Amadiba Crisis committee, comprising activists campaigning against the toll road and against the proposed Xolobeni Heavy Mineral dune mining proposal. Crisis committee members believe that the two projects are interlinked.
Amadiba Crisis Committee spokesman Nonhle Mbuthuma said the minister had discussed the “removal of houses, graves, animal veld and mielie fields to suitable alternative land”. However, she claimed people from outlying areas had been bussed into the meeting, whereas people who would be directly affected by the removals had been excluded.
“The people of Umgungundlovu, the people whom Minister Nkwinti wants to relocate, were purposefully excluded from this meeting. It makes no sense to hold this meeting in Mbizana. There is no N2 toll road planned there. The N2 is planned for the Amadiba coast. Why does the minister not go to the coast? No one here has been consulted on your plans, Minister Nkwinti. We have long been demanding answers, but with no response from the government or Sanral,” she said.
Asked about these allegations, Simon Peterson, the Sanral Southern Region manager, said the meeting was convened and coordinated by the Mbizana Local Municipality. Hence, all the logistics pertaining to this meeting had been arranged by the municipality in conjunction with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.
It therefore followed that Sanral had neither organised the meeting, nor was in a position to advise who should have been invited and transported to attend the meeting. The South Coast Herald tried, but was unable, to to contact Mbizana Local Municipality’s municipal manager or its communications manager.
“We will not move for mining and we will not move for a four to six lane highway,” Ms Mbuthuma said.
Sanral has also not yet replied to questions about whether the proposed KwaZulu-Natal section of the toll road would be included in the project. It was recently reported that the province had been excluded from the original proposal to provide an improved, shorter and safer road link between Durban and East London.
The proposal to build the N2 Wild Coast toll road, a 560km route between Durban and East London, about 80 percent of which would follow the existing R61, was first put forward more than 10 years ago. However, it has always attracted controversy, including objections from the green lobby, as the 90km sections of new roads would be constructed through an extremely environmentally sensitive area.
