Angry Mahikeng villagers have vowed not to vote in the upcoming local government elections if the North West government does not build them a tarred road.

Community members from ten villages‚ Mofine‚ Setlopo‚ Mapetla‚ koikoi crushers‚ Ditshilo‚ Letlhogori‚Manja‚ Sehuba and Setlopo sa Molatoutsule‚ were up in arms on Thursday saying they would not rest until their demands were met.

They say they have been complaining about the bad condition of their road since 1994.

Community representative Thapelo Links said the government was taking them for granted. “They once told us that this road does not exist but it’s funny because it’s a road that leads to Tswaing local municipality and Ratlou. Lots of people are using it‚” he said.

Links said the department of public works and roads‚ in one of the meetings held at the village‚ also contradicted themselves by stating the road was recognised as a road that had a traffic volume of 224 vehicles passing per hour.

“It’s a busy road‚ we want roads or we are not voting‚” he said.

Links said the poor condition of the road had a negative impact on residents as it resulted in an unavailability of transport. He said a number of incidents at those villages were reported as a result of the dusty road.

Public works and roads Head of department‚ Pakiso Mothupi said the province was facing a huge challenge when it came to roads.

“We are having a backlog‚ we are going to sit down and see how best we can we assist this community‚ because the road is been used by buses‚ we might end up re-graveling it or balding it as tarring the road is expensive‚” he said.