Residents in Tentergate and Thabathemba, outside Tarkastad, have been denied access to services such as water for years, but now they are also being denied access to the economy and to health care services.
There has been no maintenance to the DR 02541 road between these villages and the town of Tarkastad for the last 20 years. This road is barely traversable in a four-by-four vehicle in good weather and is totally inaccessible during or after rains.
The road surface has washed away, and collapsed drainage systems have resulted in rivers of water flowing in the road instead of being diverted away. A bridge that was washed away in summer rains last year has still not been replaced, and the road is now eroding into a treacherous ravine. (See pictures here, here and here)
It is only a matter of time before somebody is seriously injured or killed there.
Furthermore, this is the access road to Tsolwana Nature Reserve, a provincial park. The Eastern Cape Premier, Oscar Mabuyane, has undertaken to pull out all the stops to reboot our economy after the devastation brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. How is this possible if tourists cannot even access our tourist destinations because of collapsed road infrastructure?
Residents, who are mostly indigent, need to reach Tarkastad to obtain their monthly grants and access health care facilities for their chronic medication. They cannot afford to take the much longer and more costly alternative route. Thus, these residents are excluded from the economy and healthcare services, and the town of Tarkastad loses valuable business.
DA EC Shadow MEC for Transport, Marshall von Buchenroder, MPL, will again raise the matter with the Department of Transport. I will also write to the MEC for Transport, Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe, to urge her to prioritise repairs to this road.
In a capable state, citizens would never be denied access to their grants or health care services because of collapsed road infrastructure. Maintenance would be ongoing, to ensure rural towns and provincial parks are accessible at all times.
The DA will continue to fight for the rights of our rural people who suffer at the hands of an incapable state.