Re-gravelling: Four villages reject R8m project
Four villages have rejected an R8 million project by Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL) awarded to an allegedly corrupt company, Ndhuna Civils, saying they want the road to be tarred and not regravelled.
The communities of GaMokgwathi, Daniel Rababalela, Lekgwareng and Dzumeri in Mopani decided to bar Ndhuna from the site in separate tribal meetings last month, according to the chairperson of the D3187 Mokgwathi-Dzumeri Road Task Team. Wilfred Machete told the Herald that residents agreed that Ndhuna and RAL will not be allowed to do work on the road unless they are tarring it. Moreover, he said they mandated the task team to take up the matter with RAL and Limpopo Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure MEC, Nkakareng Rakgoale.
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The task team includes representatives of the four tribal authorities, civic structures, business forums, ward committees, and the Bolobedu, Nwamitwa, and Giyani taxi associations. According to GaMokgwathi residents, they chased a RAL official away when he tried to hand over the site to Ndhuna’s representatives and an engineer during a meeting held at the tribal authority on October 24. “After Public Works and RAL tried to regravel the road, we started a campaign to object and mobilised the communities to reject regravelling.
Also read: Villages demand a tar road which government promised in 2016
Instead, we want the road to be tarred. We believe all the Bermuda roads after the D3187, have been tarred. We are saying that as the four communities, Mokgwathi, Lekgwareng, Daniel, and Ndhambi, let them increase the money and construct a tarred road,” Machethe said. “When the RAL official was doing the handover of the project, we told him to go back and tell them we don’t want regravelling; we want a tar road.
They did not come back to us, but then the contractor started buying some people to divide us. I then wrote a letter to the MEC.” Machethe said RAL invited the task team to a meeting in Polokwane on October 25 where they listened to their grievances. He added that the task team presented a proposal to RAL to find more money to tar the road and for them to retract Ndhuna for allegedly buying some residents to divide the communities. “We warned the MEC and the director on Ndhuna, they spoke to him, and now, seemingly, he is quiet,” he said.
