Photo: Free State Agriculture
Farmers in the Free State are in a catch-22 situation following a call by the Free State provincial government for the province’s farming sector to repair the ever-deteriorating provincial road network at their own cost.
According to Dr Jack Armour, commercial manager at Free State Agriculture (FSA), the roads in the province were in such a poor condition that farmers had no choice but to take responsibility for the road network.
“It has become increasingly difficult for them to do business because of the ruinous condition of the roads. However, road maintenance and repairs are extremely expensive. Without some kind of tax relief for road maintenance, they will be hard pressed to continue the production of sufficient and affordable food,” he told Farmer’s Weekly.
According to Francois Wilken, FSA president, the association had repeatedly made requests to the Free State provincial government to attend to the growing crisis.
He said in a statement that the situation had been further exacerbated by Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula’s announcement that funds for road maintenance had dried up.
These budgetary constraints were confirmed during a meeting between FSA and William Bulwane, Free State MEC for Police, Roads and Transport.
“FSA was asked to assist the department in fixing the roads, but the department would not [be able to] recompense farmers for their expenses. There is a real possibility that the Free State’s local and provincial road network can collapse totally within the next few years. This will cut millions of people off from basic and critical services, and make it extremely difficult for farmers to continue farming,” he added.
According to the FSA statement, the R30, a major route linking Welkom and Bothaville, Klerksdorp and Orkney, was in danger of complete breakdown.
This was also the case for the R711 road between Clarens and Ficksburg, which formed the gateway route to major tourism and agritourism destinations in the eastern Free State and Lesotho.
FSA named the R26 between Ficksburg and Fouriesburg as “the worst road in the province”. The R34 between Memel and Bothaspas was just as bad and contractors working on the R34 had downed tools as they were not being paid.
In addition, the R34, R59 and R505 between Wesselsbron, Makwassie and Hoopstad had also become virtually impassable, the statement said.
Farmer’s Weekly’s attempts to get comment on the matter from Bulwane’s office were unsuccessful.
