It cannot be ignored anymore: in many parts of Mzansi, maintenance on run-down rural roads is now a multimillion-rand burden carried by farmers. After a recent meeting with provincial government officials, food producers who are desperately trying to plug holes in their deteriorating roads network, are convinced that waiting on government to do its job is futile.
For the sake of their own and their children’s survival, farmers in the Free State are forced to take on the responsibility of fixing roads, says Friedl von Maltitz, vice president of Free State Agriculture (FSA).
The Free State is among the provinces in the country with notoriously poor roads infrastructure. The floods and above-average rainfall that occurred in January and February only exacerbated the problem, Von Maltitz says.
Countless engagements with the provincial government have yielded little to no results, and a meeting two weeks ago was the final nail in the coffin for farmers’ hopes.
Farmers left feeling defeated
“After [the] disappointing meeting … to address the roads crisis … FSA was convinced that we will have to take action ourselves if the problems of the roads are to be overcome,” Von Maltitz says.
FSA commercial manager Jack Armour adds that, following months of seeking an audience from government, the Free State premier and MEC for finance decided not to pitch to the arranged meeting.
Instead, a delegation led by the MEC for cooperative governance was sent.
“The roads issue is a financial and management [one] so it was important that the finance MEC and premier should have been there. Our roads MEC arrived 45 minutes late.”
“We had a great opportunity to present a detailed report on roads and safety … and the response from the … MEC was disappointing, because he said he knew all the problems we had.”
Armour says some of the questions they raised remained unanswered. These included how many road scrapers were working in the Free State and what the schedule was for scraping gravel roads in the province’s five districts.
They also left without an answer as to why R194 million was returned to Treasury unspent in the previous financial year, as this allocation was meant for roads repairs. FSA is also unclear on the final roads budget and action plan for gravel and tarred roads in the current financial year.
Rain and roads a frustrating mix
In Thaba ‘Nchu, a Free State town about 60 km east of Bloemfontein, fruit farmer Tsholofelo Motlhale says that the moment rain falls, accessing her farm becomes a mission.
Recently, a truck carrying equipment to install a borehole on her farm got stuck for three days while travelling on a muddy, unmaintained road.
“I had to call for help, which cost me money, pulling out the truck. Roads leading to farms need to be tended to because we are feeding the country. A day wasted because of poor infrastructure is way too much and has many financial implications.”
The Free State is not the only province with such problems. Eastern Cape dairy farmer Siviwe Tikana tells Food For Mzansi that his family has resorted to using their own money to fix roads.
“It has been three years that the roads have been in this state and the department of public works never comes to fix [it]. When they do, they do not do a proper job. Trucks drive over it and it’s back to square one,” he explains.
Tikana says they have a community fund that allows locals to contribute from as little as R10 to the account so that roads can be fixed.
He adds that when farmers fix the roads, they depend on their agricultural workers to help filling potholes. This ultimately leads to a loss in productivity for the farming business.
Bumpy roads cause animal stress
A farmer from Brits in North West, Ipeleng Kgwadi, says the road from three villages close to the Borakalalo National Park has been in a bad state for over a decade.
“As a farmer I use this road on a daily basis. It’s very frustrating because [when I] transport cattle to the abattoir they become very stressed [and this] may result in bad meat quality,” she says. “Animal wellbeing is important and they don’t need to be stressed.”
She says the road links farmers around Legonyane, Jericho and Maboloka village to Brits for farmers to access vegetables markets and livestock auctions, but that damage occurs often.
“Most of the common damage is flat tyres, suspension damage and even damage to the body [of the vehicle]. We spend most of [our] money on car service,” Kgwadi says.
Food-producing regions under threat
In the Northern Cape, Saamtrek Saamwerk coordinator Sehularo Sehularo says that rural roads particularly in the agricultural district of Kuruman are in a very poor state.
“[This leaves] farmers in dire situations. How are they going to operate, especially [during] rainy seasons?” he says.
“The R31 road between Kimberley, Barkly West and Danielskuil is in a bad state. Although government has closed the road to fix it, we believe it was too little too late. The closure could have been avoided if they listened.”
The department of roads and public works in the Northern Cape confirms that it is working on the R31. “Through its key performance indicators programme, which is a contractor development initiative, [the department] has various groups conducting vegetation control alongside the R31 provincial road.
“The one group is doing de-bushing and grass cutting from Barkly West towards Delportshoop. Another group is building culverts at the Gong-Gong turn-off. Rock pitching in front of the culvert prevents soil erosion,” the department says in a written response.
‘Not enough money,’ says North West government
The MEC for public works and roads in North West, Oageng Molapisi, tells Food For Mzansi that its R380-million road infrastructure allocation is not enough to meet all needs.
“As a province we have a huge backlog on the maintenance and upgrading of roads, from gravel to tar-surfaced roads. Our indications, in line with our draft ten-year roads master plan, suggest that we have a total of 19 783 km of road, of which 5 125 are paved and the remaining 14 658 are gravel roads.
“The reality of the situation suggests that we will only be able to achieve 500 km at the end of the ten-year period if the allocations from the [national] equitable share remains the same. There are competing interests between rural roads and the economic urban infrastructure.”
At the time of publication, the Free State police, roads and transport and the Eastern Cape public works and infrastructure departments had not responded to questions from Food For Mzansi. This article will be update once these departments’ responses are received.
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