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Eastern Cape MEC for Transport Xolile Nqatha has admitted that the poor state of the roads in the province can be attributed to a lack of maintenance caused by a massive lack of funds.
Nqatha was answering questions posed to him by the Democratic Alliance.
He also said the province requires around R3.8 billion for road maintenance, but the current budget is just R800 million for this financial year.
However, the MEC said the province has started a process of resealing and rehabilitation of the road network, which remains budget-dependent.
Nqatha noted that the damage to the provincial network was a "result of inadequate maintenance over the years, which was mainly due to underfunding", adding that the majority of the surfaced network no longer be patched up due to the "excessive damage".
"The department has started a process of meaningfully maintaining (reseals and rehabilitation) its paved network. On average, ECDOT is implementing two reseal projects in a financial year, and this is informed by available funding," the MEC said.
Meanwhile, DA MPL, Marshall von Buchenroder, said Nqatha is robbing the people of their livelihoods by not fulfilling his core function of maintaining our road infrastructure.
He says the roads in the province are pothole-ridden and crumbling, road markings are unpainted, and signage is either severely faded or simply missing.
"The province relies heavily on these roads for economic activity, especially during this period, when there is an influx of international tourists and holidaymakers from other provinces. However, the state of our roads is so bad that our tourists risk their lives by just traveling to their destination."
He even attributed the fatal road accidents to the province having the deadliest roads in the country.
"More needs to be done, and while we cannot fix the roads overnight, we can take steps to curb the lawlessness on our roads that has claimed so many lives. We can stop motorists from taking chances by driving unroadworthy vehicles, overloading, speeding, and drunk driving."
Von Buchenroder believes this can be achieved through visible policing on our roads and by effective traffic law enforcement.
