Residents are livid with Voortrekker Street’s progress

Residents and business owners are livid as this will postpone the completion even further. Residents are severely inconvenienced by these repairs. Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) commenced with the refurbishing and reconstruction project of Voortrekker Street on Tuesday September 7. “Nobody was happy with this arrangement because it is the main road of the town, but we also realised that the street is in such a dire state of disrepair. We had no choice but to make peace with the inconvenience,” said Johnny Baptista, owner of Spar-O-Rama Supermarket. Spiros Couvaras, DA councillor, said as far as he knows the contractor could not get a hold of lime. There are also rumours that he was not able to pay all his workers. “As far as I know that is the state of affairs. Apparently, the contractor was able to secure lime the past Friday and he was supposed to commence work on Monday November 29. TCLM even offered to buy the lime for him. But, Sipiwe Matsi, the municipal manager said it will be a breach of contract as the contractor was already reimbursed through the tender process,” said Couvaras.

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  On Tuesday November 30 there were still no workers or construction activity. The owner of Decoy Hunting and Fishing, Maans Smith, said they are losing a lot of business. Voortrekker Street is directly in front of Decoy Hunting and Fishing, in the Spar-O-Rama complex. “I just can’t take it any longer. There is dust everywhere. The heavy vehicles are now damaging the residential areas between Spar-O-Rama and The Heads,” said Smith. • TCLM did not reply with a comment on the above issues at the time of going to press. A questionnaire was submitted on Friday November 26 to the spokesperson, Themba Sibiya, by Steelburger/ Lydenburg News. The contractors signs are still next to the road, but the workers are nowhere in sight..