Disgruntled communities halt R573 Road construction project

Kgobokwane

Angry residents of Elias Motsoaledi Municipality in Limpopo and Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality in Mpumalanga, have on Monday brought a local road project into a standstill, citing lack of employment and nepotism practices by main contractors.

The upgrading of the road started a few months back, with about R1 Billion budgeted by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), for the rehabilitation of the road between Moteti and Marble Hall.

The first phase of the project included the construction of temporary bypasses and upgrading the main carriageway between Siyabuswa and Marble Hall.

Now villagers who resides beside the R573 Road, which is a boundary separating Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces, accuses the main contractors, Raubex Construction Company and Rail Refurb Company of side lining them in employment opportunities.

The complaining residents are from villages such as Kgobokwane, Siyabuswa, Kgaphamadi, Maganagobuswa, Moteti, Waalkraal, Oorlog and Slovo Park.

A community leader, Alpheus Malatji, said they halted the project to complain about lack of job opportunities to benefit the locals.

“The whole recruitment process in the project was done without the involvement of the communities that supposed to benefit from the project. We demand a raffle hiring process which will give a fair employment opportunity to benefiting residents,” he said.

Malatji claims that the people employed in the project are outsiders who were appointed by main contractors by using their employment database.

“There is a majority of unemployed young people in our communities who should benefit from the project, however, instead of considering them, the main contractors are giving first priority to outsiders. Unemployment is rife in our communities. Local SMMEs were also not given sub-contract opportunities, we are not happy about the whole recruitment process,” he said.

Malatji said residents vow to halt the project until their employment demands are met.

A complaining community member who did not want to be named, accuses the main contractors of giving jobs for their pals and family members, instead of prioritising locals who are beneficiaries in the project.

“The majority of workers are connected to managers and supervisors of Raubex and Rail Refurb. When there is a project in our area, locals expect to get jobs. However, with this one there was no transparency at all. The project was not properly introduced to the communities,” he said.

He said the project will remain suspended until locals are considered and get employment.

Both Raubex and Rail Refurb could not respond to messages sent by the publication when requesting a comment.