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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the MEC for Public Works, Road and Infrastructure, Dickson Masemola, for the prioritisation and prompt intervention of the department over the terrible state of the R572 road between Alldays and Tom Burke.

The DA has received complaints from residents, farmers and motorists that make use of this road on a daily basis and are endangering their lives. There have been unnecessary accidents, some of which have resulted in the loss of life or injury and where vehicles were damaged due to the poor state of this road.

The road is characterised by stretches of road which no longer have tar and very big potholes. The road is also economically significant as road users, tourists, logistics vehicles as well as mining trucks make use of this road and there is a lot of farming activity along this road. These activities are badly affected by the poor state of the road.

There have been numerous attempts and engagements with the department and Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) that dates back years by the farming communities and residents along that road to have it urgently attended to, but nothing has been done to fix the road whilst the safety of motorists is at stake.

The DA recently managed to engage and get a commitment from MEC Masemola for the inclusion of the R522 road between Vivo and Louis for road maintenance in the new financial year. We hope the R572 road will also be included and prioritised, given its importance to economic activity in the province.

The terrible condition of the road and the unnecessary accidents on the R572 road demonstrate the failure of RAL to carry out its mandate within the province. It is responsible for all the planning, designing, construction, management, controlling and maintenance of provincial roads for Limpopo.

The entity has been plagued by consistent gross mismanagement and poor financial management. RAL incurred R734 million irregular expenditure in the 2020/21 financial year and had a further R4 billion in irregular expenditure awaiting condonement, largely due to failure to follow Supply Chain Management processes, payments on expired contracts and spending funds on projects that were not budgeted for. The entity had also underspent its budget by R473 million.

RAL is meant to provide a quality provincial road infrastructure network for the economic development of the province, but has proven itself to be a perpetually poorly run entity that has failed to provide services to the people of Limpopo.

The DA believes, and has long maintained that the province should dissolve RAL and have its functions taken over by the department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure. It is the only way to ensure that Limpopo will get decent road infrastructure that will drive economic development in the province.

Issued by DA Limpopo Spokesperson for Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure, Risham Maharaj MPL