INVESTORS COMPLAIN ABOUT MATSAPHA POTHOLES

MATSAPHA –Businesspeople are complaining that parts of the Matsapha Industrial Site are riddled with tyre-damaging potholes.

Preferring to address this issue on condition of anonymity, they approached the Times SUNDAY to complain about the high cost of car damages from potholes. They did not understand why their rates were not utilised to fix the potholes. One businessman said he spent E7 000 on repairing tyres and related parts of his executive car. He said he paid E300 000 in rates on an annual basis and did not understand why he was not getting value for his money. There are potholes on the street leading to Unifoods, at the Msizi Street junction and the one en route to Fedics. There was, however, some patching being done there, as a contractor has been engaged to fix the road. The Labotsibeni and Lihawu streets have some potholes as well. The Matsapha Police College road is also riddled with the potholes.   

Another businessman pointed to the fact that potholes, sometimes called chuckholes, could be extremely dangerous to drivers and pedestrians on the road. Not only can they cause serious damage to their cars, he said the holes cause serious injuries, mainly because the roads are frequently used by heavy trucks. When a driver tries to avoid a pothole, he said the other motorist could swerve into the heavy truck and cause an accident. The businessmen said any pothole, regardless of shape and size, presented dangers to the drivers and their passengers.

issues

He also said that some of the most common damage seen when hitting a pothole included brake damage, broken axle, bumper damage, flat tyre, steering and mechanical issues. The problems also include hitting other vehicles or flipping over. Sihle Sihlongonyane, the Public Relations Officer of the Matsapha Municipality, said the local authority was working very hard to address potholes around the industrial hub. “Where we have been alerted of the potholes, we try our level best to patch them,” Sihlongonyane said. He said they would definitely move around the place to assess the holes troubling their stakeholders. “These are our very important people; we shall help them whenever they raise an issue that troubles them. We are here for them,” he added. He mentioned that they sometimes felt other roads needed major facelifts as opposed to patching the potholes. He said he was aware of roads earmarked for rehabilitation.

According to a 2021/2022 annual report for Matsapha Municipality, there are mitigation in place to address all of these concerns. The report contains statements from the Town Clerk, Lucky Sukati and the Chairperson, Alice Russo. In the mitigation plan, the council stated that the strategies included the improvement of the improvement of the Police College road (MR31). The cost for the rehabilitation of the road is E40 million. It is also mentioned in the report that the construction of the Matsapha Interchange MR3 will cost E150 million.
The Matsapha Municipality stated that it faced a number of challenges which included major traffic congestion which became evident during rush hours. Even though short and long-term mitigation strategies and plans have been developed by council, vehicle movement problems remain unresolved as a result of budgetary constraints. Matsapha Municipality is a local government authority.

investment

It was declared a mnunicipality in 2012. It is under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Matsapha Municipality is known for being the investment hub of the Kingdom of Eswatini. It is the largest industrial town in the kingdom, housing factories, warehouses, and shopping centres. This town also has residential areas, armed forces, and educational facilities. The town is divided into six wards, some of which are residential and business sites. Meanwhile, Alice Russo, the Chairperson of Matsapha Municipality stated in the 2021/2022 annual report that they appreciated all stakeholders for playing a critical role in the town’s development in the year under review. “As council, we have worked hard to ensure that we deliver on the basic mandate of providing quality services to the rates payers of the town,” she said. “Our principles and values require us to encourage participation by all of our stakeholders to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the governance and growth of the town.” During the 2021/2022 financial year, the population of Matsapha stood at 25 000.

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