Heavy rains in the Kamiesberg area have exposed the need for government to adopt an integrated approach towards the management of the gravel road network in the Namaqualand area.
The DroëDap road from Springbok to Gamoep and Springbok to Kamieskroon is dangerous. Large parts of the road only have a two-wheel track where vehicles cannot pass each other. Deep ditches and potholes have formed across the road. The shoulders of the road washed away, with rocks spilling onto the road. Despite this, large sheep lorries with trailers must risk transporting their livestock from winter to summer grazing land.
Roads in the Leliefontein area are even worse. At Langvlei and Draaiklip, the roads used to be in a very good condition but now vehicles regularly have to be pulled out of the mud when it rains.
Gravel roads in the rural Kamiesberg area are in many cases the only lifeline to the outside world, yet the only grader allocated to the area has been awaiting repairs at the Leliefontein municipal camp for almost four weeks.
After the heavy rains experienced at the end of September, tractors previously allocated to communal farmers by the department of agriculture were also not stored at the central collection point, rendering them useless during the time of crisis.
With little support from government, it has been the community that has pulled together to keep roads open. This was recently the case in Leliefontein, after the torrential rains on the 24th of September. On 25 September, the disaster management official incorrectly declared the road as driveable, despite certain parts of the road having completely washed away, leading to numerous vehicles getting stuck. On the 27th and 28th of September, the community came out with wheelbarrows, pickaxes, shovels, willing hands and whatever other tools were available, to repair the road.
The ongoing excuse of broken graders, that gather dust in workshops for weeks if not months, has grown old and the situation highlights the need for a coordinated response to Kamiesberg’s gravel roads.
Following failed attempts to get cooperation from the district department of roads, the DA has requested the MEC of Roads and Public Works to facilitate a stakeholder meeting to discuss the pooling of state resources and the active involvement of all role-players, including the Kamiesberg community. This has become essential to ensure the maintenance and repair of the roads that keep the rural economy in Kamiesberg afloat.