Walter Sisulu’s Only Grader Stands Idle for Six Months

Statement by Cllr Matthee Nel – DA Walter Sisulu Mayoral Candidate:

Walter Sisulu Local Municipality’s only grader has been standing in a workshop for six months, leaving the municipality without a functioning grader to maintain its recorded network of over 228 kilometres of unpaved municipal roads.

Residents are paying the price. Severely deteriorated roads make daily journeys to work, school, and clinics harder, damage vehicles, and increase transport costs. For businesses and farmers, unreliable roads undermine their ability to move goods and earn a living.

The municipality’s road-maintenance yellow fleet consists of just two Tractor Loader Backhoes (TLBs) and the grader to serve Burgersdorp, Venterstad, Oviston, Steynsburg, Aliwal North, and Jamestown.

Two TLBs cannot replace the grading capacity needed across these communities.

The DA’s Shadow MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Dr Vicky Knoetze MPL, has written to the Eastern Cape COGTA MEC, Zolile Williams, requesting urgent provincial support under section 154(1) of the Constitution to restore the municipality’s road-maintenance capacity.

Dr Knoetze has asked that MEC Williams immediately coordinate equipment support with the municipality, Joe Gqabi District Municipality, and the provincial Department of Transport.

This must include temporary access to a working grader, the necessary equipment and operators, and a firm deadline for repairing or replacing the municipality’s grader.

Residents also deserve an explanation for why it has remained in a workshop for six months.

The support programme must also address shortages of maintenance materials, fuel, and technical capacity, and establish a funded road-maintenance schedule covering all six communities.

Clear priorities, deadlines, and public progress reports must allow residents to hold those responsible accountable.

If elected Mayor, I will prioritise a full fleet audit, urgent repairs to recoverable equipment, reliable supplies of maintenance materials, and a scheduled road-maintenance programme that will get Walter Sisulu’s roads working for all.

Residents cannot wait for another election promise while essential equipment stands idle. They need a working grader, properly equipped maintenance teams, and repairs they can see on their roads.