BY SILISIWE MABALEKA UMZINGWANE villagers in ward 9, Matabeleland South province have raised complaints about the poor state of Dobi-Gulabahwa Road.
The road, which has been neglected for the past 10 years, has resulted in teachers shunning schools in the area.
A villager, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “We don’t know what’s going on with the District Development Fund (DDF), as they last graded the road more than 10 years ago. When we questioned them, they said they were not getting any funds from the government,” the villager said.
“The state of the road negatively affects us as teachers shun working in underdeveloped areas and it is leading to poor pass rates by schoolchildren. We have a donor that assists our children with school-related materials; he too cannot access the area because of the poor road.”
The villager also said the state of the road was hindering and driving away potential developers.
“The government should do something and stop behaving as if it cares about us ahead of elections. Roads should be graded more often, not when a political party wants to get votes,” he said.
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Ward 9 councillor Bekezela Moyo confirmed that the general poor state of roads in the area was driving away teachers.
“We have realised that most developmental activities are done during election campaigns. We are missing a lot because of the poor road network. Our roads are in a sorry state, we need responsible authorities to address the matter with immediate effect,” he said.
Matabeleland South DDF provincial co-ordinator, Moment Malandu said the road was destroyed by heavy rains and they were on an on-going project rehabilitating it.
“It’s not true that the road has been neglected for the past 10 years. We had been doing top grading, unfortunately there was a cyclone that contributed to the destruction of the road network. We are in the process of doing motor grading, but for now we are facing fuel challenges,” Malandu said. The DDF team is presently said to be grading roads at Esiphezini and Kumbudzi, and will soon move to Dobi-Gulabahwa road.
Meanwhile, Matobo villagers have also protested over the sorry state of the Old Gwanda Road. The villagers say it takes three hours to get to Bulawayo from Matobo, using the road yet the distance can be travelled in less than an hour.
Old Gwanda Road has been neglected for the past five years.