The inquiry was prompted by a surge in complaints about Eastern Cape roads, which complainants said were significantly hindering access to their fundamental rights. The district authorities received a lashing from the panel consisting of commissioner Philile Ntuli, provincial manager Dr Eileen Carter and Dr Siyabulela Fobosi before their presentations. The commission said roads at issue included Cwebeni in Port St Johns, the stretch leading to Thafalofefe Hospital in Centane, the Mantlaneni access road in Lusikisild and the Silindini access road in KwaBhaca. Ntuli said grievances had been received from residents across the province, so they had to call officials to appear before them from several government entities and departments including transport, tourism, Sanral, education, Road Accident Fund, treasury and cooperative governance. In November, the transport department told the commission it needed R151bn to fix the backlog. Just 10% of Eastern Cape roads are tarred. Devastated roads and bridges from recent floods in areas such as Port St Johns have added to the backlog. Ntuli said: "I must emphasise our disappointment in the municipality not making it during the inquiry in November. "It's unfortunate we had to resort to subpoenas." The ORT district is home to 1.4million people and has in ternational tourism attractions like HoleintheWall, yet it is barely accessible without a 4x4 because of the parlous state of the roads.

The district has five local municipalities Mhlontlo, Port St Johns, Nyandeni, King Sabata Dalindyebo and Ingquza Hill. The district authority coordinates the integrated transport plan and its implementation. Local municipalities are mandated to maintain local roads. In a report presented by municipal manager Basil Mase, the ORT district municipality said it had 2,5921cm of unsealed roads. It also had 6141cm of sealed roads, 4,8191cm of footways, 4,8191cm of guardrails, 12,574 drainage pits and 5,604 open channels. Port St johns was highlighted as the area hardesthit by disasters, including floods which impact on the state of roads. Mase said the provincial government had invested about 12391.6m across the five municipalities for disaster response to the road infrastructure for the 2023 2024 financial year. Mase said some of the projects had been completed, while work was under way in others. "Over the past three years, the municipalities have been provided with the disaster grant fund due to recent disasters that have damaged the roads." But challenges, especially after the recent floods, still faced municipalities. Without explaining why the municipality did not pitch in November, OR Tambo district mayor Mesuli Ngqondwana apologised for its failure to appear. "We commit to ensure it doesn't happen again, and we do make the point that we are doing everything in our power to ensure there's consequence management." Ngqondwana admitted the municipality had a roads in frastructure backlog, and said they were in constant interaction with the local municipalities and provincial government to ensure interventions were made. Carter said the commission would be on the ground to see progress. Transnet also apologised. The three representatives said their infrastructure was less vandalised than in some other provinces. Douglas Mamba, a Transnet general manager in strategy and planning, said Transnet had completed construction of the Mamathwane crossing loop in the Northern Cape which had significant implications for the Eastern Cape. This included additional rail slots for 104wagon manganese trains to Gqeberha, which would reduce truck volumes on the route, and the establishment of a new export channel for manganese through the port of East London, also reducing road haul volumes. Daily Dispatch

Source: Daily Dispatch