The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on the National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute (NRWDI) to help secure an intervention in the poor condition of the R355 road between Springbok and the Vaalputs Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility, on which nuclear waste is transported.
The grader, designated to perform routine blading of the road, is broken and has been parked on a private farm since January this year. There is no clear indication from the Northern Cape Department of Roads and Publics Works or its district office as to when repair work to the grader will be completed, or when they will attend to the road.
Farmers are suffering. Some have lost livestock as a result of the road conditions and others have had to replace parts of farming implements, directly impacted by the road. Most worryingly, the state of the road also creates the risk of potential nuclear spillage, should the trucks ferrying nuclear waste be involved in an accident.
The provincial department has, since 2023, failed to respond to the DA’s concerns about the state of the road, disregarding the seriousness of the situation and only blading the road on an ad hoc basis, with no definite schedule in place. A PAIA application submitted to the department’s Namakwa district office in October 2023, along with letters to MEC Fufe Makatong and the Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, were never responded to.
The department’s old argument, that low traffic volumes on the road do not warrant an upgrade, is baseless. This is no ordinary road and safe transportation of radioactive waste is in the best national interest.
The DA has submitted a written complaint to the NRWDI. The institute now has a responsibility to get involved and, through inter-sectoral relations, help secure safe passage for all travelling on the R355, to prevent a bigger disaster in future. We have also escalated this matter to the DA’s National Spokesperson on Public Works and Infrastructure, Erik Marais, to address in Parliament.