Tradesmen and taxis owners who conduct business along the Punda Maria road on the R524 in Thohoyandou daily are up in arms with the delay of the South African National Road Agency (SANRAL) in finishing the rebuilding of the bridge between Acacia Park near Thavhani Mall and Thohoyandou Block G, which collapsed in February 2021.
Construction on the bridge started in October last year, with promises that the project would be complete by the end of January this year, but road users will clearly have to wait a while longer. According to sources, the bridge is nearly complete, but because of a lack of resources, the contractor and his workers often do not show up to continue with their work.
The owner of the Engen garage near the Maniini and Thohoyandou Block G junction, Mr Thuso Mmbadi, said that business had been greatly affected by the collapsed bridge and bad state of the Punda Maria road, as travellers now had to use alternative roads. They had even had to retrench workers as a result.
"After the collapse of the bridge, SANRAL declared it as an 'emergency', and it was to be rebuilt with immediate effect. A contractor was eventually appointed in October, but they are making very slow progress, which affects our businesses," said Mmbadi.
Mr Dicky Neluembeni, a taxi operator around Thohoyandou, said the taxi industry also suffered. He said that some taxis who ferry passengers from as far as Ha-Tshikonelo and the Kruger National Park were forced to take alternative routes far from their usual routes.
Thulamela local municipality spokesperson Mr Nndwamato Tshiila agreed that some of the roads within his municipality were in poor condition at the moment because of the recent heavy rains. He said they were hard at work to make the roads accessible, e.g. filling potholes with sand to provide temporarily relief while damaged roads were being rebuilt.
Limpopo Mirror also sent a media enquiry to SANRAL's spokesperson, Mr Vusi Mona, who said that he would refer it to a person called "Lwando" at the Northern Region of the agency, but at the time of our going to press, no reply had been received.