Provincial roads department given leave to appeal

THE Grahamstown High Court has granted the Eastern Cape Roads and Public Works Department leave to appeal against a far-reaching judgment allowing farmers to fix their own damaged dirt roads and send the bill to the government.

The high court in March ordered the department to immediately begin implementing plans to repair and maintain its extensive and largely dysfunctional rural road network.

Significantly, the judgment set out strict conditions under which farmers can themselves arrange to have damaged gravel roads repaired and then bill the government for the work done.

Agri EC last year brought the application in which they successfully sought to compel the department to take action and properly repair and maintain damaged rural roads.

The department appealed against the order, indicating it believed it would have the effect of allowing farmers to access a significant portion of the department’s budget by bypassing normal procurement procedures.

But Judge Judith Roberson said she had built in enough safeguards to avoid this happening. Roberson has now granted the department leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The department estimates that of its 77 336km of public roads, 60 000km could be considered rural roads. Some 37 000km had been identified for extensive regravelling.

The conditions under which farmers can perform work on roads included that the farmer first notify the department and give it 30 days to inspect the road.

If it did not do so, the farmer could then obtain two independent quotes from civil contractors and proceed with the work.