Halted R446m road construction vandalised
“There is huge vandalism, they have removed almost 60% of the pavement, and right now there is only a small portion left.”
An unfinished R446-million road construction site east of Pretoria has been looted of material since construction work stalled almost a year ago.
The construction and upgrade of the multi-million rand K54 road (Tsamaya Road) remains unfinished four years since it started. The road links the R104 (old Bronkhorstspruit Road) to Solomon Mahlangu Road.
The project experienced several problems including vandalism of infrastructure.
Last week, Boschkop police arrested four men (aged 49, 37, 35 and 23) near Skierlik informal settlement when they were caught red-handed stealing bricks from the project and loading them onto two bakkies.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Yeroboam Mbatsane said the police were conducting patrols around 22:00 on Wednesday when they found the four men stealing bricks from the road project a few metres away from their own homes.
“They will be charged with theft and tampering with essential infrastructure,” Mbatsane said.
The law states that “any person who unlawfully and intentionally tampers with, damages or destroys essential infrastructure; and who knows or ought reasonably to have known or suspected that it is essential infrastructure, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a period of imprisonment not exceeding 30 years”.
Mbatsane said vandalism of the project started in February and worsened throughout the year while there was no-work done on the road. The operations had come to a halt.
“There is huge vandalism, they have removed almost 60% of the pavement, and right now there is only a small portion left,” he said.
“Initially, one could not notice but gradually they started stealing huge amounts of bricks. At some point we called the local leaders in the community to address that issue and warn people that it is a crime to remove the bricks because they belong to the government.”
Gauteng department of roads and transport said the project started in January 2018 and was expected to be completed by April 2022.
The department blamed the delays to “encroachment of the road reserves by residents” adding that “the contractor cannot access the road reserves for them to work”.
The department said the project would resume only when illegal “encroachments” are cleared. It was not stipulated when that would happen.
While the operations came to a halt because of a lack of access to building site, the cost of vandalism that since occurred has not yet been determined.
“The completion of the project will be determined when the contractor is appointed. We can estimate 21 months,” the department’s response read.
Last week, residents reported seeing workers on the road again.
The department confirmed its workers were protecting and maintaining the work done so far.
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