Provincial government has been accused of completely stonewalling efforts by Eastern Cape farmers to draw attention to the poor state of gravel farm roads.
The MEC for roads and public works Thandiswa Marawu has even allegedly ignored correspondence since 2011.
This emerges from papers filed by Agri EC in an application in the Grahamstown High Court for a supervisory interdict, which would take authority for farm road maintenance away from the department of roads and public works (DRPW).
But the department has hit back saying some of the roads have been subjected to almost continuous work over the past two years.
The department’s spokesman Mpumzi Zuzile said that up to 80% of provincial gravel roads were in “a poor to very poor condition”.
He said there was a detailed programme of roadworks for the municipal districts cited in the court application.
The work packages included wet blading, dry grading, re-gravelling, reshaping and vegetation control in Inkwanca, Lukhanji, Makana and Tsolwana municipalities. Bridge repairing was also carried out.
On district road 02578 in Lukhanji, up to 17 work packages had been undertaken since 2013.
Zuzile said about 80% of rural gravel roads would be under two-year routine road maintenance contracts with external contractors in future.
The remaining gravel roads would be maintained by in-house maintenance teams.
The Dispatch has reported many times in recent years on government’s silence in the face of appeals from farmer associations and residents to maintain rural roads.
In its court case, Agri EC said it had been waiting for the MEC to meet with it since June 2011, when it had written to request a meeting.
When it wrote to then premier Noxolo Kiviet seven months later, it was told the matter had been referred to Marawu to deal with – but “no further response was received from anyone in government”.
Agri EC and nine farmers want the court to impose a stringent maintenance supervision schedule on the department to bring farm roads in and around Grahamstown, Queenstown, Stutterheim, Alexandria and Bedford up to a “trafficable” state.
The farmers said that relevant local authorities cited in the case adopted an inconsistent attitude towards the issue of road maintenance, with some stating it was not their obligation to repair or maintain farm roads.
However, they did not indicate who was responsible.
“In those circumstances, the roads are simply abandoned and neglected and become impassable.”
Agri EC president Ernest Pringle emphasised that individual farmers needed to know what urgent and immediate steps they could take to fix roads which were in such a state of disrepair that they could not reach their farms.
“There can be no conceivable reason why the repair of a public road should be an expense that any individual farmer should bear.”
Zuzile said the department had no policy to allow individual farmers to take remedial steps to repair a road but the farmer concerned could approach the department for permission which would include an indemnity against any claims if the department supervised the work.
Farmers ‘ignored’ over roads
The MEC for roads and public works Thandiswa Marawu has even allegedly ignored correspondence since 2011.
This emerges from papers filed by Agri EC in an application in the Grahamstown High Court for a supervisory interdict, which would take authority for farm road maintenance away from the department of roads and public works (DRPW).
But the department has hit back saying some of the roads have been subjected to almost continuous work over the past two years.
The department’s spokesman Mpumzi Zuzile said that up to 80% of provincial gravel roads were in “a poor to very poor condition”.
He said there was a detailed programme of roadworks for the municipal districts cited in the court application.
The work packages included wet blading, dry grading, re-gravelling, reshaping and vegetation control in Inkwanca, Lukhanji, Makana and Tsolwana municipalities. Bridge repairing was also carried out.
On district road 02578 in Lukhanji, up to 17 work packages had been undertaken since 2013.
Zuzile said about 80% of rural gravel roads would be under two-year routine road maintenance contracts with external contractors in future.
The remaining gravel roads would be maintained by in-house maintenance teams.
The Dispatch has reported many times in recent years on government’s silence in the face of appeals from farmer associations and residents to maintain rural roads.
In its court case, Agri EC said it had been waiting for the MEC to meet with it since June 2011, when it had written to request a meeting.
When it wrote to then premier Noxolo Kiviet seven months later, it was told the matter had been referred to Marawu to deal with – but “no further response was received from anyone in government”.
Agri EC and nine farmers want the court to impose a stringent maintenance supervision schedule on the department to bring farm roads in and around Grahamstown, Queenstown, Stutterheim, Alexandria and Bedford up to a “trafficable” state.
The farmers said that relevant local authorities cited in the case adopted an inconsistent attitude towards the issue of road maintenance, with some stating it was not their obligation to repair or maintain farm roads.
However, they did not indicate who was responsible.
“In those circumstances, the roads are simply abandoned and neglected and become impassable.”
Agri EC president Ernest Pringle emphasised that individual farmers needed to know what urgent and immediate steps they could take to fix roads which were in such a state of disrepair that they could not reach their farms.
“There can be no conceivable reason why the repair of a public road should be an expense that any individual farmer should bear.”
Zuzile said the department had no policy to allow individual farmers to take remedial steps to repair a road but the farmer concerned could approach the department for permission which would include an indemnity against any claims if the department supervised the work.
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