Hosea folk put politics aside, fix road
NHLANGANO – It was a fruitful day yesterday for Hosea as over 50 residents got busy with fixing a stretch of road known as Hholomi road.
The residents comprised of both the young and old, who were carrying their shovels, loading sand into Hosea Indvuna yeNkhundla Richard Vilane’s tractor which was the main machinery used in the exercise.
The tractor carried the sand and offloaded it on the most damaged parts of the road and the residents would then level it with their shovels.
The exercise was carried out under the ‘Operation Lungisa Ngakini’ theme, aimed at motivating residents of Hosea Inkhundla and the country at large to fix their roads other than waiting for government.
Vilane said this initiative was meant to meet government halfway as it could not fix all the roads in the country at once. Vilane said at Hosea, they would be waiting for government while doing something as well.
Machinery
He said he had tried to procure government machinery but was told that there was not enough fuel. He said it was for that reason that he went back to his fellow residents and motivated them to start the exercise of fixing the road on their own as they were the ones using it on a daily basis.
He added that this road was mainly used by Izigi Zendoda Bus Service, which was the main public transport vehicle servicing that area. He noted that even the owners of the bus supported the initiative by donating diesel, which was used to fuel the tractor that was being used to ferry the sand and stones during the rehabilitation of the road.
Vilane mentioned that people passing along the road also made donations to keep the residents motivated and add fuel to the tractor.
He added that they would continue fixing other roads within the constituency.
Meanwhile, last week, KaMfishane residents were also busy fixing their own road as they were also seen loading sand and stones into one resident’s tractor to fix the most damaged parts of the area’s road.
The residents said the reason they took the decision to fix the road was mainly because public transport and other vehicles were no longer able to drive through the road. The residents said with the persistent rains the road was getting even worse. A resident who elected to comment on condition of anonymity, lamented the situation of the road which was last re-gravelled many years ago.
The resident noted that due to the condition of the road, residents from KaMfishane now struggled when travelling to Manzini because instead of going through KaPhunga, they had to go via Hlatikhulu. He said that increased travel costs and it took a lot of time.
Kubuta Indvuna Yenkhundla Vusi Vilakati said the issue of that road had been a thorn in the flesh for the residents for a very long time now. Vilakati said the previous week, inspectors from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport were sent to check the status of the road and they promised to send machinery to fix it, but to date, there had been no movement to that effect.
Challenges
He said they had heard that the ministry encountered some challenges with their machinery. Vilakati said they were still waiting for the ministry to provide machinery to fix the road as per their promise.
Kubuta Member of Parliament (MP) Mlamuli Mabuza said he was aware of the residents who were fixing the road and said it was a good thing to assist government where possible. He said government would fix the roads though it would not be done at the same time.
Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Thulani Mkhaliphi, said the ministry was aware of the deplorable state of the road and it was having plans to fix it. “We are at an advanced stage of fixing those damaged roads,” said Mkhaliphi.
The PS noted that while the ministry was busy fixing roads, there was so much rainfall received, which disturbed the entire exercise.
Mkhaliphi said the ministry was now working under pressure because on the other hand, they were aware of the bad roads but at the same time, the weather was not permitting.
The PS noted that due to the rains some remedial works had to wait.