The FF Plus referred the failed repairs to the R76 between Kroonstad and Steynsrus to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) after an oversight visit to the road.
Repairs to the road started in 2019 and were initially supposed to be completed by September last year, but the completion date was pushed to June 2023.
An oversight visit to the site revealed that this road-repair project was no more than a waste of money.
Although the Department of Community Safety, Roads and Transport indicated that R271 million has already been paid to the contractor, Sedtrade Ltd, it appears that the work has not been completed and the project has ground to a halt.
The parts of the road that were repaired are of such a poor quality that the road surface has already started crumbling and now poses a safety risk to motorists. In the past month there have already been three accidents on the R76, which was in a better condition before construction on it commenced four years ago.
The FF Plus views the R271 million paid to the contractor as a wasteful expenditure, and asked the SIU to determine who should be held accountable for it.
According to the reply to a question posed by the FF Plus earlier this year in the Legislature, it will cost approximately R29 billion to repair the Free State’s roads.
The Department must not be allowed to throw one single cent earmarked for road repairs in the water.
The Free State’s decaying road network serves as clear proof of the ANC’s legacy of corruption, cadre deployment and its failed policy of Black Economic Empowerment.
The only way to solve the Free State’s road crisis and other problems is to get rid of the ANC and to replace it with a responsible coalition government.
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