Working together to benefit rural communities
THE SA National Roads (Sanral) has fostered a relationship with the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa) to work together with traditional leaders and benefit rural communities.
Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona said that Contralesa was a very important stakeholder to them.
“We are charged with planning, building and maintaining national roads. Some of the roads that form part of the Sanral network (and we are responsible for over 22 000km of the road network) traverse some of the land over which you are custodians. There is, therefore, no way we can execute on our mandate without working with yourselves,” said Mona.
The beginning of a formal relationship between Sanral and Contralesa started when Contralesa’s general secretary, Zolani Mkiva, approached Sanral in 2018.
“This relationship must graduate to a relationship that is empowering in nature. We will not be fulfilled if our relationship only stops at gala dinners; this relationship must be economically empowering. When we build a road, that project must have an impact on that community and it must fulfil that community’s needs.”
He said that as Sanral builds their national roads, they are always ensuring that there will be offshoots from their projects.
“For example, we may have adjacent roads to the national highways that will be constructed by the local communities, or sometimes the road may be a conduit to travel to schools, clinics or other government services.”
A key decision was made by Sanral over the past few years to involve communities in its road infrastructure projects. It was motivated by the intent to uplift community members – particularly those in rural areas, who live around its projects, and the key motivation is for rural communities to participate meaningfully in the construction of these roads.
Two projects Sanral has invested in that traverse rural and urban areas are the N2 Wild Coast Road Project in the Eastern Cape and the Moloto Road project, which traverses Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.