Residents close main road in service delivery protest

Thousands of villagers and other road users were affected by the closure of the R578 road since last week after residents had gone on strike and barricaded the main road as well as more inland roads.

Residents of N'waxinyamani, Chavani, Njhakanjhaka, Bungeni, Matsila and other neighbouring villages who participated in the strike said that they had closed the road because they wanted the government to honour their promise for an inland main road. The gravel road that the residents demanded to be tarred is known as the D3754 or Chavani-Bungeni-to-Tshipuseni road. The other road is the D3719.

A representative of the residents, Mr Lucky Mathebula, said that they had had enough of empty promises from the provincial government and the Makhado Municipality when it came to issues of service delivery.

“The Chavani-Bungeni-to-Tshipuseni is a major road that needs to be tarred, for it also houses our health centre, SASSA offices and other main offices that make our lives easier,” he said. “Taxi owners are tired on having their precious minibuses run along this road because it wears off their vehicles in a matter of a few weeks. It is difficult to drive on this road when it has rained. We need a proper road here.”

From the documents the residents made available to the media, it appears that the residents had at some stage sent a letter to the Limpopo Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure, reminding them of a promise of a road that was made around 2007. However, the Limpopo Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure's MEC office referred the matter to the Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL).

The result was that the RAL contacted the Makhado Municipality and the Collins Chabane Municipality for assistance as Makhado Municipality had already done some work on the D3719, which cuts across the two municipalities.

RAL's letter of response to both the Limpopo Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure and the concerned residents, dated 22 February 2018, states that the Makhado Municipality agreed to assist in the construction of the D3719 road in the 2018/2019 financial year. They committed to only constructing part of the road that falls in their municipality, but so far, that has not happened. Meanwhile, the letter reads, the Collins Chabane Municipality would only realign their plans to include the part of the road that falls within their municipality for the financial year of 2019/2020.

Makhado Municipality's spokesperson declined to comment before a stakeholder meeting with residents that was scheduled for Wednesday. Collins Chabane Municipality's spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

The spokesperson for the Limpopo Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure, Mr Joshua Kwapa, said that they were still compiling a report to forge a way forward with the road construction project. “I am unable to provide any media comment at this time, but I will do so immediately once we have collected enough data,” he said.

Meanwhile, since last week, buses have not been running. Commuters who worked in Giyani, Thohoyandou, Louis Trichardt or Elim suffered more. Students were also affected. Local shop owners were ordered to close business for the indefinite duration of the strike.

“On Monday, I slept on the benches at the Thohoyandou police station because the buses couldn't get us back to Marholeni, for fear of strikers,” said a student who commutes from her village to Thohoyandou at least three times a week. “I understand the fact that they need a road but now their strike is affecting us.”

The provincial police's spokesperson, Col Moatshe Ngoepe, confirmed that the police were monitoring the situation and trying to restore peace.

Date:22 March 2019

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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