The MEC for Roads and Transport, Ms Pinky Kekana, has promised that her department will rebuild rain-damaged roads and bridges speedily, especially in the Vhembe area, in a bid to fast-track the government´s delivery of better services to the communities. “We are rebuilding the heavily rain-damaged road and bridge at Thathe Vondwe near Khalavha, so that commuters do not suffer from travelling via Louis Trichardt from the Nzhelele area to come to work in Thohoyandou and Makwarela. Commuters from Nzhelele were forced to use this road, because the road and bridge at Thathe Vondwe were washed away by the heavy rains in January,” said MEC Kekana. Kekana said her department was ready to deliver government services to poor communities, but urged them to mobilize each other and attend the integrated development plan (IDP) as organized by their nearest municipality and advise them on their priority projects. Kekana was at the Tshipise-Tshadambale sports grounds last Thursday, where rural communities were given the chance to raise their problems, before the MEC, the local mayor and the sector department responded. “We understand that most of the roads in rural parts of the province are in a bad state since heavy rains fell in January. We have a plan to re-gravel and upgrade them before going into the election in May this year. We will also contract about 600 rural women to clean up the grass on the sides of rural roads, including chopping up trees next to dust roads,” she said. Kekana added that the Manenu Traffic College in Mutale Municipality would be refurbished to before the end of this financial year, but warned corrupt officials who were collecting funds from the communities in the name of the department to stop such practices as they are arranging for possible arrest. Mr Mapasa Nndanduleni, who attended the meeting, said most of the rural roads in Mutale areas were in a bad state and bus and taxi operators were unwilling to use them, leaving poor residents without reliable public transport.