Power failures and slippery roads in Valdezia on rainy days

Last Thursday was a rainy day in Vhembe and while this might have been considered a blessing to most, for the Valdezia community, rainy weather brings great challenges, such as inaccessible roads and an inconsistent electricity supply.

Community members complain that, whenever it rains, the bumpy gravel road from Khangela to Valdezia is slippery and very difficult to access. Besides this, the rain also makes detecting potholes very hard for motorists.

Mihloti Halala, a resident from Valdezia, said her children had to travel to school in Louis Trichardt every day, but when it rained, they were either late for some of their classes or did not go to school at all because of the state of the roads.

“We are pleading with the Makhado Municipality to maintain the D3761 and gravel road to Valdezia as this affects our business,” said one of the taxi drivers who work in that area. “On a rainy day, we often don’t even bother to do trips. Sometimes we have to drop passengers off far from their destination, because the roads are just too dangerous,” said the driver.

Makhado Municipality’s spokesperson, Louis Bobodi, said the D3761 Road was not the municipality’s responsibility but that of the Department of Public Roads and Transport. “There are programmes in progress for all the access roads in all our regions. Makhado has 38 wards, and where we are not yet, we will be, as scheduled on the programmes,” said Bobodi.

The rainy weather often goes hand in hand with power interruptions. According to the Democratic Alliance’s councillor, Glenda Furumela, residents know that when the wind starts to blow or it rains, the electricity will trip. The area has been experiencing this problem for a long time and the municipality seems to have no plans to address and fix it.

“Look, it is almost the end of the year again. Matric learners have a lot of study material that needs be printed or photocopied at school. When the electricity is constantly on and off, it really inconveniences the learners. They also need to study at home. Should this be done by candlelight? This is unacceptable,” said Furumela.

When Limpopo Mirror visited Valdezia last Thursday, the area had had no electricity since early that morning. “We need to capture residents on our system as they come for our services, but sometimes we spend a whole day not working,” said Reuben Shiburi, who works at the Huhlwani Traditional Council. “We tell the residents to come back anytime, as soon as the electricity is restored.”

Makhado Municipality said a number of problems existed around these electricity challenges, which included accessibility to some of the municipality’s infrastructure and their locations. “The municipality has appointed service providers to do maintenance and deal with other challenges. These problems will soon become a thing of the past,” promised Bobodi.

Date:16 October 2021

By: Bernard Chiguvare

Bernard Chiguvare is a Zimbabwean-born journalist. He writes mainly for the online publication, Groundup.

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