By Titos Makondo
THE Chiredzi South’s longstanding road crisis has reached a boiling point, with residents pleading for help as they struggle to travel from one point to another due to the poor quality of the roads.
The major roads (Chiredzi to Sengwe and Rutenga to Sango border post) that residents rely on to access local business centres and their nearest towns have deteriorated, becoming impassable regardless of the season.
Residents lament that the dusty and gravel roads, which have never been surfaced with tarmac since Zimbabwe’s independence have deteriorated into rodents paths and rivers during rainy season due what appears to be lack of mantainance.
The ugly nature of the roads has deterred transport companies from operating in the area, citing the operational risks and cost as extremely high. As a result, the severe transport shortage has given birth to a monopoly, allowing few local taxi owners to exploit the situation by charging exorbitant fares.
A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, painted a dire picture of life in Chiredzi South, stating that the lack of proper roads has made living conditions ‘hellish’ to the community. “lmagine paying R400+ for a short ride from Chikombedzi to Chiredzi, the same amount we pay from Chikombedzi to Beitbridge or Harare.”
” We have only one if not two buses serving the whole area and one has to sleep overnight at bus terminus to catch the bus, otherwise they are left with no choice but to pay the crazy taxi fares,” another resident added.
ln the same vein, storekeepers are also affected, they inflate the prices for their products to cover the unbearable transport costs, further burdening the already struggling residents.
As the costs of living continues to spirals out of control, desperate residents are urging the government to intervene and alleviate their suffering.
According to the Chiredzi South legislator Joel Sithole, prior to the onset of rainy season last year, all roads were gravelled. However, Sithole noted that the major challenge lies in the fact that the Chiredzi South’s soil composition is loose and unsuitable for road construction.
Chiredzi Rural District Council (CRDC) CEO, Ailes Baloyi attributed the challenges in maintaining the roads to a lack of necessary equipments.
“We are buying atleast one tipper truck this financial year . We already have two functional graders and a dozer. We believe once our road equipment fleet is in place we will see a great improvement in the quality of our roads,” Baloyi outlined with a slice of CRDC’s masterplan recently compiled to run for the next 15years.
According to the masterplan, the CRDC is gearing up to upgrade and rehabilitate most of the roads in the area, transforming Chikombedzi growth point into a fully fledged town and some business centres into growth points.