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NO CHANGE: Residents of Spitspunt village in the Moutse area of Limpopo have had no tarred roads since the village was established in the 1950s. The Limpopo provincial government has built a new school and health care centre but community members say they cannot reach these facilities due to bad roads, especially when it rains. PHOTO: ALFRED MOSELAKGOMO

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TWO months after Sowetan exposed how the lack of proper roads in four villages in Limpopo affected villagers, it has emerged that R35-million had been budgeted in the last financial year to upgrade roads in these areas.

Sowetan has learnt that an official from the Limpopo roads and transport department has been suspended for allegedly mismanaging funds meant to upgrade roads in these villages.

Villagers from Spitspunt, Malebitsa, Tshikannoshi and Driefontein in the province's Moutse area are up in arms, demanding answers.

In official documents the Ephraim Mogale municipality - under whose jurisdiction the four villages fall - claims the completion of access roads at a cost of R35-million in their villages.

However, this achievement exists only on paper, as the roads in these villages are unusable.

The information, which has been submitted to the provincial government in Polokwane, was entered by mistake according to the municipality.

A resident, Mafolo Bogopa, said: "We were shocked when we discovered that money had been allocated to fix our roads but this has not happened."

He said before the area was taken from Mpumalanga to Limpopo in 2005, they pleaded with the government to fix their roads but their requests fell on deaf ears.

"Our concern was that before our area was placed under Limpopo, Mpumalanga was busy upgrading roads but the project came to a halt because of this change.

"Up until now nothing has happened regarding the continuation of the project," he said.

In March this year, residents told Sowetan that summer rains frequently make roads all but impassable, while in winter they generate constant choking dust.

Villagers said they were happy on March 8 2010 when the then transport MEC Pinky Kekana made an announcement regarding construction of their roads.

The roads were not built and Kekana repeated the same announcement on March 29 2011.

"Before the 2011 municipal elections, a steering committee was established to facilitate the construction of the road. Until today, the project has still not started," said another resident, Steve Mmakola.

He said they were shocked when the latest consultation meetings booklet of the municipality indicated the completion of a R20-million access road between Tshikannoshi and Malebitsa as well as R15-million to upgrade the 7km road from Malebitsa to Driefontein.

Mmakola said: "As you can see, our roads are in a bad state and we are forced to use a poor excuse for a road."

Vehicles using the roads in these villages run up punishing maintenance and repair bills, and drivers of sedans use the road at their peril, in places having to drive at less than 40km/h.

Ephraim Mogale municipal spokesman Jan Phasha confirmed that the booklet indicated that a total of R35-million had been spent upgrading roads in Moutse and said the information appeared "by mistake".

"It was our plan to upgrade these roads but this could not happen due to unforeseen circumstances," Phasha said. - alfredm@sowetan.co.za

• This article was first published yesterday, 21 May 2012, in the Sowetan printed newspaper

Comments

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Sun May 19 07:06:35 SAST 2013 ::

May 22, 2012

MommaC

So who got the contract and why are they not behind bars?
Oh, silly me. Politics
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May 22, 2012

Reyataz

Just keep voting ANC, that's the better life they promise each time. Viva!
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May 22, 2012

Domkopp

Now, the Limpopo provincial government under boMorena Mathale, awarded OnPoint Engineering( a company partially owned by Malema, who coincidentally happened to be a friend of Mathale) the R4.6b tender or responsibility to upgrade the Limpopo roads. OnPoint, partially oned by Malema, deposited millions of millions into Ratanang Trust, which coincidentally just happened to be owned by the Malema family.

Malema thought I am a DomKopp, but I am not such a DomKopp. Fix those roads bra!
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May 22, 2012

whiteafrican1

Unbelievable!!!
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May 22, 2012

cornelius

Way to go Pinky ! Just make an announcement every year that it will be done, and all will be well, the piepol will still vote for your party.
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May 22, 2012

Shredder

The sad thing about these corrupt people is that they just chow our money and only get removed or moved to different posts or suspension. They don't go to jail, I doubt that their accounts are frozen, the money is not being recovered from them.

My country is going UP IN SMOKE
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May 22, 2012

magude

these people are talking lies. no tender awarded. they saw the projects in IDP book.
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May 22, 2012

Phunyukabemphethe

magude
these people are talking lies. no tender awarded. they saw the projects in IDP book.
..........................................................
Pls elaborate
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May 22, 2012

MorenaWaPolelo

Limpopo Roads again I thought that On-Point Company was running the roads programme but then again people did not vote for On-Point. They voted for people who appoint unqualified and in experienced caders to run the public sector to the ground. Always wanting to eat!!! I bet if government can scrap the tenders only for a month there would be civil war in this country!!!!
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May 22, 2012

Ms-B

And yet we have people who are willing to spend their day marching for a penis. where do our priorities lie*sigh*
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