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Blockades in Mthatha and Elliotdale, caused by service delivery protests over the poor state of the roads, mean many children have been unable to attend school.
While communities including Khwenxurha villages are demanding the tarring of a 21km dirt road from the N2 at the Mgqumo-Bhityi turn-off to the KuMatshamba turn-off in Elliotdale, other communities such as those of Gogozayo and KuMatshamba are also demanding an overhaul of the 15km tar road from Gogozayo to the Elliotdale CBD.
The protesting communities in three wards of the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) local municipality said that in 2010, the Eastern Cape government had committed to constructing a 21km tar road from the Bhityi-Elliotdale turn-off on the N2 to Matshamba on the side of Elliotdale.
The 21km road feeds wards 19, 20, and 21 in the KSD local municipality and no fewer than 40 schools and 15 clinics.
Community leader Zamekile Nomhlonyane said the protests, which started on January 27, demanded that transport MEC Xolile Nqatha come to address them.
“We don’t want promises but a date when they will tar the road from Mgqumo on the N2 to KuMatshamba connecting to Elliotdale.
“Since 2005, there has been a commitment from the government that this road will be tarred.
“It is a tourism route that goes down to the coast, Madwaleni Hospital, Elliotdale town, King Hintsa TVET College, Dwesa Game Reserve and the Haven Hotel.
“It connects Nelson Mandela’s Mvezo birthplace to Elliotdale. It also connects two municipalities — the King Sabata Dalindyebo and Mbhashe local municipalities.
“It connects the N2 straight to Elliotdale. This is an economic and tourist route with a high volume of traffic to many government and tourism institutions on the Wild Coast.”
Nomhlonyane said many ANC leaders including premiers Noxolo Kiviet and Phumulo Masualle , and MECs such as Fikile Xasa and Pemmy Majodina, had committed the province to tarring the road.
“It is now 20 years since the government’s first commitment. If they do not have capacity, they must ask the SA [National] Roads Agency to assist them.
“We want no more rhetoric, but the construction of the tar road. We will intensify our protest.”
There have been a number of protests by communities in the KSD and Mbhashe municipalities demanding better road infrastructure, with blockades at Dutywa, Mqanduli, Elliotdale, Khwenxurha, Mgqumo, Gogozayo, KuMatshamba, and others.
Nomhlonyane said emergency vehicles were allowed through the blockades.
“Driving on the dirt road from Mgqumo to KwaMatshamba is a mission as heavy rains have reduced the dirt road to nothing but dongas. We want no more dirt roads.”
Protest organiser Xolile Slarha said the decaying 15km tar road between Elliotdale and Gogozayo “is riddled with huge dangerous potholes and is a mission to manoeuvre”.
“The road needs major rehabilitation.
“These roads are as good as non-existent, and motorists spend a fortune on wear and tear. The potholes have led to a number of fatal accidents.”
Nomhlonyane said the Mgqumo-Matshamba road had been discussed by the provincial government in 2013.
It connects Nelson Mandela’s footprint — Qunu and Mvezo — and King Buyekhaya Dalindyebo’s Great Place, from the N2 to Elliotdale.
The 10km paved Nkosi Dalibhunga Mandela Legacy Road and the Mvezo Bridge were to be extended to Elliotdale.
In 2013, then-premier Kiviet said the government was looking at implementing phase three of the paved access road, which would link Mvezo and Ludondolo to Elliotdale.
“This road, which starts on the N2 to Mvezo must continue to other areas like Elliotdale and rejoin the N2 at Qunu,” Kiviet said at the time.
She was speaking as people started questioning why the road would go only as far as the Mvezo Great Place.
“We have agreed in principle. We are now working on logistics and the costs of the road.”
Nomhlonyane said: “The government has failed to deliver on its promise to extend a paved road to Mgqumo and Qunu, stretching to Elliotdale. We have no idea why the project was abandoned.”
Provincial transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose and education MEC Fundile Gade’s spokesperson, Vuyiseka Mboxela, said the government was aware of the protests and the interruption of learning and teaching.
Mboxela said: “It is painful to see parents who, when they have a problem which has nothing to do with education, make education a victim.
“The learners who could not go to school because of issues related to roads will, when the children fail their grades, hold the education department to account.
“But it is parents who involved the children in the protest.”
Binqose said: “We are aware and understand the grievances of these communities.
“On Thursday, the MEC will visit the area, listen to the leaders, and outline the department’s planning.”
Daily Dispatch
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