Free State roads offer a pothole every 29m, driving away business

The dire state of roads in the Free State is frustrating residents and the agricultural association. Free State Agriculture (FSA) commercial manager Dr Jack Armour said the cost of conducting business on pothole-ridden roads was escalating in the province.

One of the critical roads is the R708 from Marquard to Clocolan.

Armour said there are about 1,034 potholes on a 30km stretch of the road, an average of one pothole every 29m.

“On this specific road there are some places where the road is more gravel than tar. It is one of the worst in Free State. It is probably better to rip out all the tar and make it gravel.”

“The road is an important route between Marquard and Clocolan, where there is a lot of beef production. A lot of trucks go through that road. The other important thing about this road specifically is that it is one of the routes that takes people from Ficksburg, from the Lesotho border post, all the way to mines in Welkom,” Armour said.

He said it wasn’t only the farmers complaining about the road as taxis and motorists also travel on this route.

“If you look at the state of our roads in Free State in general, they have deteriorated. I drove to Ficksburg over the weekend. We counted two cars that rolled during the night and were lying on the side of the road,” Armour said.

He said there were another five cars on the same road which had hit potholes and stopped on the side of the road to wait for breakdown services.

“Some potholes are so bad that you cannot dodge them. You are driving at 60km/h and if there is a car coming on the other side, you can’t swerve out of the way. You have to go through that pothole,” he said.

For the past four years, farmers in the region have been repairing potholes themselves, but it has increasingly become unaffordable, Armour said, adding this was done with permission from the provincial department.

“Sometimes government helps and provides tar but it is very little and most farmers are buying tar themselves. The department is saying ‘we have no money to help you but we will give you permission’. The chief engineer must inspect the roadwork and we help with signage so there are no accidents,” he said.

Armour said farmers couldn’t continue doing the work themselves.

“There is a lot of rain and after each storm the road gets worse,” he said.

The state of the roads saw some suppliers stop delivering products to farmers. It also results in more breakages in terms of delivering products to the market, said Armour.

“When agribusiness refuses to deliver your fertilisers and other products, you have to use your own vehicle or tractor. You are using a tractor on a public road which is much slower and a dangerous vehicle to use on a public road,” he said. 

Armour said this also costs the farmers money as they use more diesel and their tractors break down more often.

He said one of the leading dairy farmers was forced to close his business in 2017. This was after companies he worked with declined to send their tankers to fetch milk from his farm because of the roads, which were damaging tankers.

During the rainy season, the FSA is also asking government to carry out urgent preventive maintenance work on gravel road infrastructure.

“And, where necessary, to co-ordinate actions where the agricultural community can join hands with the state to solve an urgent road problem.”

Armour said he spoke to officials about the state of rural roads which are critical to their business in May this year and presented 18 written questions. He said the province is yet to answer.

Farmers repeatedly reported problem roads to the provincial department and had started a WhatsApp group to alert officials.

“With all the cases farmers are complaining about, we have been given less and less feedback,” he said.

Armour said they are using the recently launched SA National Roads Agency pothole app to report road damage. The app was launched by transport minister Fikile Mbalula in the hope of getting the worst areas prioritised for repairs.

The provincial roads department has been approached for comment.

When delivering the provincial roads and transport budget vote for 2022/2023 in April, MEC William Bulwane acknowledged challenges in the province, including ageing road infrastructure and the effect of severe flooding.

The flooding resulted in severe potholes forming, slippages and washing away of pipes and culverts on some roads, he said. The roads most affected were the R30 Allanridge to Bothaville, R711 Fouriesburg to Clarens and R74 Oliviershoek Pass.

“Temporary measures are in place at the R30 to ensure road user safety. On the R711 and R74, assessments are under way, with temporary traffic accommodation to ensure road user safety. However, driver behaviour is still an attribute, which contributes to incidents and accidents in the respective areas,” said Bulwane.

Contractors had been appointed for five capital projects at a budget totalling R285m set aside for the 2022/2023 financial year, he said. These are: Reitz–Tweeling; Tweeling–Frankfort; Dewetsdorp-Wepener; Schonkenville-Koppies, and Jim Fouché-Deneysville.

Bulwane said the department had also prioritised road rehabilitation projects for the 2022/2023 year on the R26: Bethlehem–Ficksburg-Ladybrand; R70: Senekal-Ficksburg and Bloemhof-Hoopstad (phase 2).

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