Potholes becoming a threat to food security, say farmers

SA's pothole crisis has worsened to the point that in some areas it is hampering  farmers' ability to put food on tables.

The looming food security threat and the deaths of two farmers on the same crumbling road in Limpopo have galvanised agricultural union TLU SA to launch a petition urging   transport minister Fikile Mbalula to declare the state of SA's roads a danger to life and a threat to agricultural and economic sustainability.

The transport department did not respond to questions from the Sunday Times but in a recent parliamentary answer Mbalula admitted the road-maintenance backlog was bad and getting worse.

Bennie van Zyl, general manager of TLU SA, said the deaths in February of farmers Gillie Fick and Gert Fourie on the R522 between Vivo and Louis Trichardt were caused by potholes. 

Fick was returning from church on a rainy afternoon when he crashed. “When it’s raining a pothole is a very dangerous thing on the road,” said Van Zyl.

“It appears Gillie, who was a well-known cattle farmer, could not evaluate how deep the pothole was and lost control. The water hid the pothole.

“Gert, another farmer, also had an accident on this road, just after Gillie, and died. His daughter died there too, about five years ago, because of the poor quality of the road and the potholes. Nothing has improved since their deaths.” 

Van Zyl said poor road conditions “are endangering farmers’ ability to put food on your table”.

48 hours - the turnaround time of Sanral teams to repair potholes, according to the roads agency

22,000km - the portion of SA's 750,000km national road network managed by Sanral

—  IN NUMBERS

He added: “Roads form the foundation of living standards in a country, and their safety directly affects the lives of thousands of South Africans every year.”

Some transport companies are refusing to use specific roads or charging more to do so, said Van Zyl.

“Farming input costs are already very high, and this is even before the monthly fuel price increase is considered.

“Farmers and agriculture simply cannot afford another onslaught — like the national road conditions — in our effort to provide quality food to the people at affordable prices. We have a crisis on our hands.”

Unfortunately, the current road conditions have forced us to make some difficult decisions on where we can collect milk from and deliver milk to, which comes at a great cost to the entire dairy value-chain and is affecting farmers and those we supply

—  Tip-Top Milk CEO David de Jager

A KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union (Kwanalu) report says the dilapidated state of roads and general infrastructure in rural areas is stifling food security and economic growth.

Life-threatening potholes, uneven road surfaces, a lack of gravel on road shoulders, alien species invasion and overgrown vegetation blocking the line of vision are the major concerns among farmers who responded to a roads survey.

Kwanalu CEO Sandy la Marque said food security would ultimately be threatened. “If rural communities must repair the roads, these expenses must be carried by someone. The agricultural sector can certainly not carry a responsibility of this magnitude,” said La Marque.

Dairy farmer John Kidger from Creighton in KwaZulu-Natal said there has been no road maintenance for a decade.

“All drains are blocked, causing water to wash off road surfaces. Even in the smallest amount of rain, the farmers have to send their own tractors to pull out trucks delivering their products to market or delivering supplies to the farm.”

David de Jager, CEO of dairy transporter Tip-Top Milk, said he is concerned about the state of key rural roads countrywide. In KwaZulu-Natal alone, truck repairs linked to poor roads amounted to R176,000 in a recent four-month period, he said. 

Vusi Mona, South African National Road Agency (Sanral) spokesperson, admitted there were problems on many roads in the north of SA.

“There are, however, rehabilitation and upgrade projects on the radar, which once completed will address the formation of potholes,” he said.

“Between Harrismith and Winburg, in the eastern region which encompasses KwaZulu-Natal and Free State, excessive rainfall has led to the accelerated deterioration of the N5. 

“Sanral recognised that the scale of the deterioration may be beyond the ability of the routine road maintenance resources to address completely, therefore procurement for multiple service providers to implement medium- to long-term interventions was initiated.

“The first of these contracts was awarded in March and the contractor is in the process of establishment on site. This will result in the implementation of more robust interventions over the following 12 months.”

Farmers are doing it for themselves

Several municipalities were approached for comment but only the City of Cape Town responded, saying it receives a monthly average of 5,300 complaints about road repairs in winter, and 2,800 in summer.

Precious Nduli of Discovery Insure said in Johannesburg it has partnered with the municipality and fellow-insurer Dialdirect to launch the Pothole Patrol. More than 100,000 potholes have been repaired in a year, she said.

Tired of waiting for the government to repair vital roads damaged in last month's floods, farmers in KwaZulu-Natal are doing the work themselves.

Many rural roads were washed away, rendered nearly impassable or brought close to collapse by the floods, with Mid-Illovo and parts of Creighton severely affected.

In Mid-Illovo, a low-level bridge was submerged, meaning “sugar and timber could not be transported out the district and diesel drops were impossible”, according to the farmers' association leader in the area, Brett Chubb.

“This resulted in the complete halt of farm operations, no food and no income. Should an emergency have taken place, ambulances, police and security companies did not have access. We have no schools in the area and children couldn’t get to school. The impact was immense,” he said.

The community is spending its own money to rebuild. “We have used 15 tractors and trailers, five TLBs [backhoe-loaders], brush-cutters, chainsaws, quarry and rock loads,” said Chubb.

“Each of these needed drivers and operators, and a further eight conductors, eight supervisors and 60 staff members were needed to get the job done. We will do anything to ensure that the roads in the district are safe and functional again.”

In Creighton, the D170 to Tarrs Valley was severely damaged by flooding and left with a 5m-wide sinkhole in the middle.

Farmer Hayden Stokes said he had no choice but to repair the road himself. “At nearly R20/l  for diesel, this is what we have to do. It is disastrous for farmers and rural communities who depend on these roads,” he said.

“Roads have become nearly impassable and have become dangerous to use; we are now filling with shale to try and prevent the road from further falling away.”

The farmers said they had received no indication from the authorities about when the roads would be repaired, despite raising their concerns about accessibility and other consequences.