Kimberley - “These roads are dangerous! We have lost countless lives over the years on these roads. Our children have died on these roads. Our appeal to government to fix this situation has fallen on deaf ears. The government of this province cares more about the education of the children than their lives, so we have decided to use what government cares most about to bargain for their lives. We have closed these schools in the interest of our children’s lives.”
The above statement was made at the weekend by the defiant Kuruman parents who have closed down 55 schools in that area over a demand for government to build them tarred roads.
The parents closed down the schools in June while the learners - close to 20 000 of them - were still writing their mid-year examinations.
A total of 469 matric learners have been affected by the closure of the schools.
The parents that the DFA spoke to were from the Ditshipeng and in Ba Ga Phadima villages and they did not want to be named in the article.
Trying to further justify their decision to close down the schools over the demand for roads, the parents said that they could not effectively receive government services such as health care and policing because the roads were in such a bad state.
“When we call for an ambulance from Kuruman, it takes longer to get to here (the villages) because these roads are in a bad state. Many people have died because emergency vehicles, including the police, could not get to them on time as they battle to travel these roads. When its raining the situation is even worse because no one can drive on these roads,” the parents said.
Both the Ditshipeng and Ba Ga Phadima villages are about 80 kilometres outside Kuruman.
The tar road connecting Kuruman and the Ditshepeng village ends about 10 kilometres before the village.
The gravel road is in a bad state and reporters had to drive at just under 10km/h to prevent their vehicle from skidding.
This road forms part of a road system that criss-cross several surrounding villages, including Bothitong, Dithakong and Ganyesa.
Some of the taxi operators in the area said that their vehicles were being damaged on a daily basis when driving on these gravel roads.
“This vehicle (pointing at his minibus-taxi) is not two years old and I’ve already had to change a number of mechanical parts including a diff and a gearbox. These roads are killing our vehicles. You drive on this gravel road and by the time you get to the tar road leading to Kuruman, the vehicle has defects. Traffic officers are forever giving us fines because of the damages our vehicles incur while driving on these roads,” the operator said.
He and his colleagues were hard at work fixing the minibus that was parked on the edge of the road.
“We also support the closure of the schools because these roads are very dangerous. We ferry schoolchildren and other members of the public in and out of the villages but worry about their safety while they are in our vehicles,” the driver added.
The network of gravel roads connect these villages and also link them with the N14 national road which travels towards Vryburg.
The residents said that although they have on various occasions raised the problem of the roads with the government, nothing has been done to resolve it.
The parents also slammed the Northern Cape government, accusing it of only remembering them during election time.
“When government leaders want our votes they come here and promise us all these wonderful things, including better roads, but immediately after voting them into power, they forget us. In recent days we’ve seen senior government leaders coming to us with a heavy police entourage, but when they need our votes they leave the police in Kimberley. They have forgotten us . . . in fact to them we do not exist,” the parents said.
They added that if the Northern Cape government could not afford to build them the roads, “they (the Northern Cape government) should take us back to the North West Province”.
The John Taolo Gaetsewe region was incorporated into the Northern Cape several years ago.
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