Ntabazinduna residents have raised concerns over poor road network in their area, resulting in some public transport ooerators shunning some routes due to bad roads.
The residents said as a result they are forced to walk long distances as transporters who ply the route to leave them far from their homes.
This came out during the commemorations of the World Press Freedom Day which were held by the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) in the area.
Brenda Tshawe, a community leader in the area said they drop off about two kilometers from their homes and finish the rest of the journey on foot.
“We have a dust road that stretches for 2 km from the main road. Most cars that we use for transport do not come beyond the main road because of the poor road. They complain that the state of the roads damages their cars. There are heaps of soil that have been put on the road sides but no one has come to fix the roads. The local authority has not fixed the roads. The only time that the roads are fixed would be when we have dignitaries coming,” she said.
“The last time the road was fixed was when the president was coming to a prisons facility for an event, and it was only fixed up to the prison gates, beyond that nothing was done. Right now there are more heaps that have not yet been used to fix the roads, perhaps we are waiting for more dignitaries to come so that the roads can be fixed. Those heaps have been there for the past six months.”
Another community member, Aejy August who is an artist said there are various challenges that are being faced in the community that need immediate attention.
“We have mining areas around this area and one of the challenges that come with that is the issue of child labour. Children of school going age get employed in these mines and not much is being done to address this issue. Another issue that is really hitting us hard is that of drug abuse. Most young people are fast becoming addicts and this needs immediate attention from the relevant authorities,” she said.
