The residents of Masakona say they have grown tired of the Collins Chabane Municipality's incompetence and inability to maintain infrastructure in their villages.
After the recent heavy rains, which only worsened the condition of the already dangerously eroded D3927 Road from Mahatlani to Masakona, which they say never got fixed, many residents had been left stranded. This finally prompted them to raise funds, so that they could buy cement and sand and take control of the situation themselves.
Sixteen community members volunteered to fill up the potholes and make the road safer for all to use again. One of the volunteers, Mr Justice Mabudi, said that instead of sitting around and pretending that everything was fine, the community had come up with a turnaround strategy. He said they had started their project to fill up potholes on Monday, 6 March, then stopped to rest on the Saturday and Sunday, and continued again at the start of the next week. According to him, the village has been a hive of activity, with people from all walks of life coming together to work on the project.
"The residents are under pressure as the Collins Chabane Municipality is failing in its duties. Because residents are not prepared to sit back and watch how their village wanes, they are taking ownership of the problems themselves. This road is usually a very busy road, but since it was damaged by the rains, there has been reduced movement. Other roads in the district were also damaged. This has affected the availability of key services. We are appealing to developing partners to chip in and help us rehabilitate the D3927 Road," said Mabudi.
The spokesperson for the Collins Chabane Municipality, Mr Robert Mathe, said that the road was not the municipality's responsibility. He advised the community to report the condition of the road to Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL).