Nongoma potholes on the R66 creating difficulties for businesses, residents and delivery services

The Nongoma Local Municipality is at odds with the Department of Transport over the state of the provincial R66 road. Supplied

The Nongoma Local Municipality is at odds with the Department of Transport over the state of the provincial R66 road. Supplied

Published Mar 2, 2022

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DURBAN - The Nongoma Local Municipality is at odds with the Department of Transport over the state of the provincial R66 road, a main thoroughfare to the town that residents damaged during a protest.

Albert Mngcwango, mayor of Nongoma Local Municipality, claimed that MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison Peggy Nkonyeni had been ignoring the municipality’s plea to have the road fixed.

The R66, he said, was riddled with potholes, creating difficulties for businesses, residents and delivery services. Mngcwango said officials from local and regional offices told him that they are operating on a limited budget.

“We are convinced that we have to get permission from the government to just take care of the maintenance of the road as the municipality, given the inaction of the MEC. Financial constraints could not be blamed for the lack of road maintenance, because there is a budget for that.”

On February 15, the mayor wrote a letter to Nkonyeni.

“There has been unrest in the KwaDenge area of Nongoma emanating from accidents that are rife in that area. The community displayed their anger through the unfortunate act of digging a trench that is detrimental to motorists and their cars.”

Department spokesperson Kwanele Ncalane said a team was sent to the municipality to assess the damage residents were complaining about. He said work will commence to patch the potholes in the coming weeks.

“Nongoma is not unique, but it is happening all over the province due to storms and floods which caused an estimated R3 billion in damages. It is political grandstanding to not await the department’s response, which threatens intergovernmental relations,” Ncalane said.

In his State of the Province Address last week, Premier Sihle Zikalala said his office had allocated close to R10bn for construction and maintenance in the coming financial year.

“Through the Department of Transport we have allocated R8.7bn for construction and maintenance of road infrastructure in the province. Of this, R4.8bn will go to the maintenance of existing infrastructure and R3.9bn is allocated for construction of new projects, upgrades and other engineering work. This includes infrastructure damaged by the recent storms,” he said.

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