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Limpopo MEC for Public Works Dickson Masemola. Photo: Kaizer Nengovhela.

MEC promises another R30 million to finish incomplete roads

 

Residents in the Sinthumule and Kutama area are complaining about the shoddy construction work and lack of progress that is being made on the rehabilitation of the D959 Road from Louis Trichardt to Makhado Air Force Base.

The six-month project was started in February this year and, less than three months in, construction has been left abandoned, incomplete and already strewn with new potholes in the base layer.

Residents were dismayed when, soon after the project started, the road had been opened even though anyone could clearly see that the construction work was incomplete. This poor effort has left local communities up in arms and they are now pointing furious fingers at the Limpopo MEC for Public Works, Dickson Masemola, accusing him of being “nothing but a charmer who just wanted to capture the confidence of the people”.

Masemola set aside R11.5 million to fix the D959 and D3715 Roads. This job was never finished, leaving residents with the same dangerous roads and many unanswered questions, such as who is now to blame for the poor condition of the newly “upgraded” road?

The rehabilitation project on the D3715 Road from Madabani to Tshikhodo has also been dormant for more than three months now.

After a local community structure went to see the MEC at his office in Polokwane to lay an official complaint about the shoddy rehabilitation done on the D959, and the lack of any work being done on the D3715, Masemola paid a visit to the area on Thursday, 14 October. He met with residents, local structures (including traditional leaders), taxi associations and business forums at the Muduluni Community Hall.

Masemola said that the budget to complete the work was set at R30 million rand and would be done in two phases. He said that planning would begin in order to have the patching up and rehabilitation work done within the current financial year, and that the rehabilitation process would start as soon as this week, from 18 to 22 October. He said that the communities must work hand in hand with the contractor, so that progress on the development could be seen by all.

Masemola said he noticed that no community structure had been involved in the rehabilitation of the D959 Road. He added that he would meet with the engineer working on the D959 Road to give him (Masemola) a report on the progress made. Masemola warned contractors in Limpopo in this regard. He said that the provincial government was working on a system to blacklist contractors who continued to do shoddy work and claim money for incomplete projects.

He said that the complaints about the unfinished and shoddy work on the D959 Road would be investigated. “We have representatives in that area, and they should notify us if they encounter problems,” he said. Masemola said that they were going to use 5% of the project’s budget to hire local contractors to work on the road.

The chairperson of the Zoutpansberg Community Development Forum (ZCDF), Mr Patrick Sikhutshi, and the Secretary of the Sinthumule/Kutama Concerned Group (SKCG), formerly known as the Sinthumule/Kutama Crisis Committee, Mr Elijah Liremi, were happy about Masemola’s promises.

The councillor of the Economic Freedom Fighters in the Makhado Municipality, Ms Tshilidzi Maraga, described Masemola as a “reckless leader who does not care for the lives of the people of Vhembe”. She blamed him for opening the poorly constructed and unfinished D959 Road prematurely. “Masemola has a total disregard for people’s lives. How can a right-minded person open a road which he knows could put people’s lives at risk? What if people were killed?” she asked. “These people have failed the province and they are now putting the lives of the people in danger in the name of service delivery. We are not going to let this matter die down without scrutiny. We will take it up in the legislature,” said a fuming Maraga.

 

 

Date:23 October 2021

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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