Villagers complain about state of Tshatshu roads
Taking a taxi trip between Tshatshu and Nkolonga villages is a nightmare, as the residents of these two villages in Cacadu in the Emalahleni Local Municipality (ELM) have to avoid bad, bumpy roads to get to town.
These angry residents claim that they have tried to communicate with their municipality but nothing has been done to fix the roads which were damaged by heavy rains early this year.
One of the residents, Zukile Sasa said he was forced to use the road as there were no alternative roads he can use to access his school.
“We have been complaining about the state of that road for so long, especially when it rains because we cannot use it, as it is becomes so slippery.”
He added that he had been in contact with his ward councilor and they were told that 12km of their road would be revamped.
“Since the promise, there has been no movement that shows that the road will be fixed.
“I wrote a letter to our mayor Nontombizanele Koni and the councillor, but they have not responded yet.
“We are in a rainy summer season now and it will be difficult to get to work.
“I am not the only road user that is complaining about that road,” he said.
He said they stood a chance of losing their lives while travelling on the roads due to the negligence of the officials.
“They do not care about us anymore, we have given them our votes but at the end there will be no service delivery.
“We vote for them because they promise to help us but forget about it as soon as they get elected to positions.”
A letter from Sasa, dated October 13 2023, was received by the municipality but there had been no response from the municipality on when they were going to fix the road.
Emalahleni Municipality spokesperson Luthando Nqumkana said: “The assessment of the road was done by Emalahleni Local Municipality, working with the municipal infrastructure support agent, after heavy rains at the beginning of the year.
“This was done in all road infrastructure networks damaged by
disasters, which include bridges/
“This was part of the requirements for the disaster funding. The road between Tshatshu and Nkolonga is the DR8568, which belongs to the department of transport.”
Questions were sent to the department of transport, however, the department had not responded by the time of going to print.