THE holes in the road to their village are so big, even buses refuse to enter!
Yesterday in Dzwerani, outside Thohoyandou, residents, taxi and bus operators blocked all entrances, vowing to keep protesting until Thulamela Municipality comes to address the issue.
Schools remained empty as pupils and teachers were stranded, while residents couldn’t go to work without transport.
The village, one of the oldest in the Vhembe district, has no improvements to show since the dawn of democracy.
The road through the village has more holes than road. It’s almost impossible to drive on and has forced at least one bus operator to withdraw his services, leaving people without affordable transport.
Vuwani Taxi Association’s Phineas Mathobo said delegations have visited and written letters to Thulamela Municipality about the bad road, especially the main road from Dzondo River.
“We have done everything to get the attention of the authorities but nothing has come from it.”
“Three years ago, our gloomy spirits were lifted up when the local councillor announced R25 million was allocated for the construction of the Dzondo Bridge.
“ We later were told the money was used for other projects and the R11 million left was not enough to fix the road. We’ll keep this road closed until they listen to us.”
Dzwerani Hamadala civic organisation chairman Michael Ndou said they’d done all they could to get the road tarred. “Locals walk long distances as taxis and buses no longer come to the village because of the bad roads.”
Thulamela municipal spokesman Nndwamato Tshiila said they knew of the problem, as well as of the many letters written to the municipality. “Rain damaged our roads and our graders can’t access the area. We will sit down with public works and see how we can assist.”
