Pretoria - The state of South Africa's roads, especially in rural areas, is a national disgrace and citizens need to take action.
These are the words of Pieter van der Westhuizen from Villiers in the Free State, who heads the campaign by the National Taxpayers' Union (NTU) to get the country's roads into shape.
Wholesalers no longer want to make deliveries and the rural economy is being throttled by untraversable roads, says Van der Westhuizen, a councillor of the Mafube municipality.
Sake24.com understands that roads such as that between Bultfontein and Bloemfontein in the Free State are closed at night because they are too hazardous for vehicles.
Residents of some 322 towns are on the NTU's e-mail distribution list, where information on municipal affairs is continually being exchanged.
A committee of interested parties will be established in each region, with representation on a national committee. These committees are urgently needed to do surveys of road conditions, as well as to analyse them and set priorities.
An audit will bed one on the money that government has available for repair work.
The regional committee will also seek alternative funding and draw up budgets.
Van der Westhuizen says the committee hopes to get the cooperation of the authorities and speed up administrative processes.
It doesn't intend wasting time on tea and cake, he points out. It wants to hear the rumble of machines working on the roads before March.
He extends a special invitation to departments at all governmental levels - the defence force, mining and agricultural groups, chambers of business, tourism organisations, Transnet, road transport organisations, unions wanting to promote job creation, road construction experts, engineers, auditors and legal experts.
Constitutional expert Professor Marinus Wiechers says it is encouraging that civil society is becoming involved in national problems.
If the NTU should struggle to get information on government budgets for roads, it can invoke the Promotion of Access to Information Act, he says.
And if government does cooperate with rehabilitation efforts, he reckons that the NTU can claim that roads have deteriorated to such an extent that they have become life-threatening. The NTU can then call on civil defence.
If an emergency situation can be demonstrated, he says, there are mechanisms in terms of which taxpayers can take control and have the repairs done.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.