WATCH: Fed up villagers repair roads

Fed up residents of Ezikhova village in Tsholomnqa, who have been waiting for government to fix their road network, have taken it upon themselves to carry out the necessary repairs.

Community leader Pumla Tsotsi said the roads had not been properly maintained for more than 20 years.

She said they had hired a tractor to haul stones and gravel to fill potholes and level uneven parts of the road.

“We take turns to work here.

“We have a huge problem of bad roads in our village; they were last fixed before 1994. Whenever it rained during the previous government, they would bring the grader here and fix the road,” Tsotsi said.

She said taxi drivers were reluctant to transport commuters to and from the area.

“Ambulances and school transport also battle.

“The taxis do not want to come to our area because of this situation. We are just fixing the road in our own village so that the taxi drivers can agree to come in and drop people.

“My son works in Komani. He drove here late last year and ended up with a puncture on these roads and now he does not want to come here again in his car,” she said.

Elderly citizens looking after their grandchildren struggle the most.

“There is also another woman who has two grandchildren. She has to be up at 4am every morning so she can walk her children to another village. The youngest is six years old. She walks with them rain or shine because the school transport does not want to drive on this road.”

She said they had taken their grievances to their councillor many times. “Our councillor does not even come here. No one from the government has even been here.

“If they cared for us they would tar the road but no one cares, all they want is our votes.”

Taxi driver Bongani Dyani said they had written numerous letters to the relevant departments.

“We have been holding community meetings since 2015. Our councillor told us to write to the government. We have submitted our complaints but no one gives us answers.”

He said a grader, which was supposed to be used to fix roads in the village, was standing idle in the government compound.

“That grader has not been used for the past six months. They just keep on saying it is not working or it needs new parts. When it rains we expect them to monitor our roads and fix them like they used to before.”

He said their vehicles often got damaged. “My taxi has been damaged and taken for repairs three times already this year.”

Department of transport spokeswoman Khuselwa Rantjie said they were aware of the situation.

“We are currently finalising work at Tsaba village about 12km from Ezikhova.

“A decision to start at Tsaba village was taken after assessing conditions of the roads in both villages.

“Inclement weather conditions continue to hit us hard and we are working to assist all communities.

“In a week’s time, our in-house teams will be in the area for the maintenance of the roads.

“As a department we are appealing to communities to be patient.”

She said the grader mentioned by Dyani had been grounded in January due to a mechanical fault and would be fixed.