30 years after democracy, Taung and Mafarafara still waiting for proper roads

TAUNG/MAFARAFARA

In Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality (FTLM), the fight in Ward 22 and Ward 23 is no longer only about potholes. For residents of Taung in FTLM Ward 22 and Mafarafara in FTLM Ward 23, two of the oldest villages in the municipality, the collapsing gravel network has become a public health emergency. 

With no tar in sight and asbestos-laced roads turning to dust in dry weather and mud in the rain, the community says people are paying with their health, their jobs, and their children’s schooling.

Community leader, Fannie Mzimba, says the villages have been omitted from municipal planning for decades. 

“The roads are deplorable and inaccessible. The municipality doesn’t include the villages in the IDP budget. It is like we don’t exist,” Mzimba said. 

He traces the neglect back to 1994. “No one listens to our communities regarding service delivery ever since the dawn of democracy. The villages are very old but without government intervention for services,” he said.

The health toll is what worries residents most. Asbestos mines once operated in the area, and Mzimba says that material was later used to surface local roads, leading to residents breathing asbestos fibers which causes asbestosis chronic lung disease. 

“There were asbestos mines in our area. Our roads are full of the material and many are suffering from asbestosis,” he said.

Another concerned resident, Choshi Masehla, says women and children bear the worst in the current situation. 

“We sweep dust from our homes three times a day and still our children cough at night. When it rains, ambulances can’t cross. When it’s dry, the dust is so thick you can’t hang washing. We are breathing our roads,” he said.

Masehla added that pregnant women and the elderly are often carried across the Tubatse River on makeshift structures when crossings flood, because Mafarafara still has no clinic. Taung has only a community clinic. 

“Thirty years later we are still asking for tar and a clinic at Mafarafara. How long must we wait?” Mzimba asked.

The road crisis is also strangling income. Some taxi drivers reportedly refuse the route after rain.

“Residents opt to fix the roads themselves but they don’t have proper resources because the roads are very bad. Without graders, gravel, or funding from the municipality, the community patchwork does little to fix the wider network,” Masehla said.

He said the community has started mapping sick residents and recording how many days schools are cut off, to present to the Department of Health and Public Works. 

“We are not waiting anymore. We are documenting, because data is the only language that gets attention,” Masehla said.

For now, Masehla says the demand is simple, an emergency health assessment for asbestos exposure, interim gravelling with proper material, and a commitment in the next budget cycle. 

“We don’t want promises. We want graders, we want clinics, and we want to stop burying our people because of dust,” he said.

FTLM could not respond to the publication’s enquiries at the time of going to press.