Limpopo’s Road and Transport MEC, Pinkie Kekana, has become the hero of the fed-up community members of Tshisaulu, Duthuni and Phiphidi.

Kekana visited the area on Sunday afternoon, where she addressed members of the community. This follows after angry community members visited Polokwane in July to stage a protest march in front of her of-fices while expressing their concern about the delay in the gravelling of their road.

According to Aaron Netshifhefhe, chairperson of the Steering Committee that was elected to represent the community in 2008 when the Road Agency Limited (RAL) promised that they were going to tar road number 5002, the community visited the MEC because they were not getting any answers from different offices since the tender advert was withdrawn in February this year.

This is despite the fact that the road was supposed to be constructed last year as was initially promised, but this did not happen and no explanation was given by RAL.

“We have been waiting for the tarring of this road since 1994 and although there were lots of promises and planning meetings, nothing materialised,” says Netshifhefhe.

“Last year, the department told us that a budget of R77,4 million had been allocated as per the advice of the engineers, but it was not constructed because two of the three contractors wanted R150m and R140m respectively in order to do the job.

“We were even informed that the third contractor was disqualified because he/she did not meet all the requirements. When we asked RAL why the department’s engineers estimated half of the amount that was quoted by the contractors, there was no answer,” says Netshifhefhe.

Netshifhefhe says they suggested that RAL must start with the construction of half of the 8km gravel road, but this also did not happen as the advert of the tender was reversed in February.

“After realizing that the road was not included in the integrated developmental plan (IDP) of both Thulamela and Vhembe District municipalities, we started asking questions from local councillors but could not get any clear answers. We then decided to go to our Premier, Cassel Mathale, who referred us to Kekana,” he said.

During Sunday’s visit to the area, MEC Kekana attended a briefing session at Ligege Secondary School before she hit the road to drive from Dut-huni to Phiphidi in order to have a feel of the bad road with her convoy.

In her address, Kekana said: “I have seen that the road is in a bad condition. I have also confirmed with the Thulamela and Vhembe District municipalities that the road will be constructed before the end of the year. This road is an economical link from the Punda Maria road to Louis Trichardt and the Phiphidi road to Nzhelele. After saying that, I can assure you that the road is going to be constructed before the end of the year and the tender adverts will appear soon,” said Kekana.