Johannesburg – Residents of Dan village and surrounding areas in Tzaneen, Limpopo have fixed the bumpy and pothole-ridden road that connects many villages to the main road.
The badly damaged road was initially tarred in 2012.
It is used by several villages including Lusaka, Rhulani and Nkomanini.
Motorists and road users claim that attempts to convince the municipality had failed as municipal officials kept on making empty promises.
“Meetings were held with the officials of the municipality and they failed to assist us. In one of the meetings, municipal senior engineer William Molokomme promised us that he would urgently speed up the appointment of the contractor so that the project commences as soon as possible.
“I am from Dan village, which is just 5km away from town, but instead of taking me less than 20 minutes, it takes me 45 minutes because the road is uneven and very bad,” said resident Vusi Magoma.
Motorists allege that the road would damage their vehicles. When it rained, part of the road would flood while the other becomes slippery.
“It took us few days to fix the road. My worry is that it will be damaged again because of the poor quality of the things that we used. We only used sand, rocks and gravel.
“Surprisingly, when the elections come, you will see the political parties campaigning for our support. When you contact the municipality, they will lie to you and say they will fix this problem,” said Magoma.
Another resident, Vincent Monareng, said they had been waiting for the construction of the road for many years.
“What we want now is this road to be fixed before the elections. And we are not playing – we are going to close all the voting stations because they [officials] only come for votes and vanish.”
When contacted for comment, Greater Tzaneen municipality spokesperson Neville Ndlala said: “We are aware of the issues the community is complaining about, especially concerning the road in question. In fact, it is not one road, there are many roads with the same problem, but some of them were already being addressed, while the remaining roads, including the one you are talking about, have been included in the 2023/2024 budget. This means it will be attended to”.
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