Ubumbano Voice
The community of Mvutjini, Zulwini in the outskirts of Mbabane, Eswatini, is experiencing problems with their roads. People can no longer reach their homes as the roads are so inaccessible.
Talking to one community member who was not willing to have his identity published for fear of victimisation, mentioned that they now leave their cars at the shops next to the tarred road. He said they decided that other than damaging their motor vehicles, its better to risk security of their cars by leaving them in the open.
It is said that at night they even suffer injuries on the roads as they fall due to the uneven roads that is riddled with pot holes. It is mentioned that rainy days become a nightmare because the roads are muddy. They get dirty before they reach their cars around the shops.
A company that was applying probase also left problems even for the homes where it was applied. The company never consulted with the community and roads getting into homesteads where left inacessible. When it rains, the water from the probase roads now flows into people’s home and eroding them as well as their fields.
Interviewing on person living with disability, Mr Nhlanhla Tsabedze, from the same community, he mentioned that for them, its even worse. Coming out of home for them is a problem. He mentioned that for them on crutches it is a big challenge to walk on the roads. He mentioned that he does not want to even mention those on wheelchairs and the blind because he shudder to even think of how to travel to different destinations.
It was mentioned that the government need to take care of the roads. This could be by regravelling the roads. It is also important that when they want to do any project in the community they consult the beneficiaries. This will assist in the people contributing on how they can benefit from the project.
The people are now patching the roads with stones and sand. But during heavy rains erosion take places and the patched road cannot stand it.
Government was approached and they responded after a long time through the probase. Now no one is responding to the cries of the people. And the community only get response and assistance only during election years. Even then they notice that this is just a campaign strategy.
People suggest that if government could be answerable to the people the access would long have been addressed.
We tried to contact government but we received no response.
