By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
The inaccessibility and immobility have been the ‘order of the day’ for the communities using the feeder D201 road between Motsweding and Matlapaneng villages. This comes after the alleged, R40 million gravelled road was washed away by floods caused by torrential rains recently.
One of the community leaders, Emmanuel Tong said they have requested a tarred road from the North West Public Works and Roads department, but it seems the department chose not to adopt a qualitative research approach.
“We have been struggling for the past 26 years and our grievances fell on deaf ears. What needs to be done is to improve the level of services. How can the department re-gravel the road for R40 million, while they could have opted for tarred road?
“The department promised that they will ensure that the road will be in the improved surface conditions while making a plan to construct a proper usable tarred road. However, the road is now in disarray and it has not been appraised for a long time,” Tong said.
He further said poor access to the road affects the cost of living, the well-being of the people involved and life in general. Tong added that indeed, transportation in rural areas tends to be expensive, unsafe, and crowded due to lack of quality and accessible roads.
“The lack of efficient transport on feeder roads results in situations where many of the road users are not able to access health, economic, educational, and other social needs. Reasons adduced for this worrying situation are quite puzzling. So, we urge the department to take us seriously,” said Tong.
Another resident from Motsweding village, Norah Dipholo shared the same sentiments. In a letter, Dipholo said the road is disastrous and that affects the livelihoods of the community.
“We do not have access to the road especially due to the heavy rainfalls and floods. Our government is not doing anything since I know the road has been like this.
“No efforts to construct (erect) tarred road and this road links Mokasa 2 and Pampierstad. I have been following all the activities on the Motsweding Facebook page and my heart is saddened by how the money is been spent to re-gravel the road, instead of putting tarred road,” she said.
Dipholo added that during the festive season, the road was only re-gravelled, which cost R40m. She said it surely shows that the government funds are being misused and the community of Motsweding is suffering.
“We would really appreciate an investigation on tenders given to construct (erect) our road. Please follow the Facebook page to see all the concerns of the community and to gather more information regarding the matter,” said Dipholo.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Constituency Head in the Greater Taung Local Municipality and Member of Parliament (MP), Sello Seitlholo said: “The D201 road from Pampierstad to Matlapaneng has been washed away and is completely inaccessible to motorists due to the recent torrential rains. Instead of building a proper road, the ANC government wasted R40 million on re-gravelling a road that residents cannot use when it rains.
“In July 2020, the DA wrote to MEC Oagile Molapisi regarding the tender process followed on the re-gravelling of road D201. The tender for the re-gravelling of the road was awarded to Lebo Tebo Trading despite the company not appearing on the tender bid document.”
Seitlholo further said his party raised concerns over allegations that the company belonged to a prominent ANC member in Taung. He added that the said company had previously also received an R40 million tender contract for the construction of Sedumedi Primary School.
“We also raised concerns from community members who informed the DA that they wanted a properly tarred road instead of a re-gravelled road. Community members complained that they were not informed of plans to re-gravel the road and there was no public participation process to allow them to add their inputs regarding the project.
“Nearly seven months after writing to Molapisi, the DA is yet to receive a formal response from him regarding the tender and D201 road. The DA will once again write to Molapisi requesting him to call an urgent meeting with the affected communities to address the blatant disregard that his department has shown to them,” he said.
Seitlholo said Molapisi must also account for why his department allegedly awarded a tender worth R40 million towards the re-gravelling instead of building a proper road that the community can use. He further said Molapisi must provide clarity on how Lebo Tebo Trading was awarded the tender to re-gravel the road without appearing on the top five list of bidders.
“He must also provide us with an adjudication report and a list of contracts awarded to Lebo Tebo Trading. Should the MEC fail to provide this information, the DA will refer this issue to the Public Protector for further investigation,” said Seitlholo.
North West Premier, Prof Job Mokgoro said the information gathered following the inspection and assessment of the damaged roads and other infrastructure in the Greater Taung Local Municipality following heavy rainfall and floods will be presented to the National Government to consider declaring the area the State of Disaster.
“National, provincial and internal roads, including those which were under construction, have been affected. We will be meeting once more as three spheres of government to secure the budget and restore damaged roads.
“There’s no doubt that funds are limited because most funds were directed towards tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we will ensure that we rescue our people and the roads which were under construction will be restored as soon as possible through the Department of Public Works and Roads,” he said.
Note: The North West Public Works and Roads department spokesperson, Matsube Mfoloe failed to respond to our media questionnaires that we sent to him almost three weeks ago.
The Guardian 