It has been three years since the heavy rainfall of February 2023 severely damaged the R40 road between White River and Hazyview, and repeated attempts to repair it have all failed.
This road is of strategic importance to Mpumalanga’s economy as it is one of the main access routes of the Kruger National Park, and is meant to ensure safe transport for Mbombela residents, farmers and businesses.
After three years of waiting and millions in taxpayers’ money, it is simply unacceptable that the road surface keeps giving way shortly after being repaired.
SANRAL, which recently took over the responsibility of repairing roads from the Mpumalanga province, blames “excessive rain” for the latest damage to the road.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus), however, closely monitored the preceding repairs and can confirm that the recent road damage cannot be attributed solely to the heavy rains.
The road surface had already cracked along the length of the repaired sections before the rain began, while the detours – which had been exposed to the same rain and traffic, and are lower lying with more water run-off – remain intact and structurally stable.
This points to serious flaws in the construction process, including insufficient compaction of the foundation and poor quality control. The work of the contractor and/or site engineer is brought into question.
The Freedom Front Plus, therefore, insists that a neutral engineer immediately be called in to conduct an independent inspection to determine the actual causes of the failed repairs.
No variation orders for further repair work should be approved until such an inspection has been conducted.
Should the contractor be found liable, the repairs should be paid for with money from the retention fund, which the state contractually withholds, and not tax money.
In addition, the contractor should disclose the name of the site engineer to rule out any possible conflicts of interest.
The Freedom Front Plus will request its MP in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to ensure that the national and provincial authorities prioritise this matter and guarantee full transparency.
Taxpayers deserve a safe, durable road reflecting the economic importance of the route.
The Freedom Front Plus will keep the pressure on until this critical route has been permanently fixed and those responsible have been brought to book.
