Rains wreak havoc roads

Nqobile Tshili, nqobile.tshili@chronicle.co.zw 

THE heavy rains sweeping across the country have exacerbated the already poor state of the country’s roads, with potholes now a common sight on major highways, including the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway. 

Many roads in Bulawayo are almost impassable due to the worsening condition of the infrastructure, which has raised concerns among motorists about road safety.

The Government declared the country’s roads a state of disaster in 2021 after rains caused significant damage. This led to the launch of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2), initially set to end in 2023, but extended to 2026 due to funding challenges and competing national priorities such as dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and the El Nino-induced drought.

Local authorities, including the Bulawayo City Council (BCC), have attempted temporary fixes by patching potholes with sand, but the rains have washed these efforts away, leaving the roads in even worse condition. 

Motorists expressed frustration and concern. Public transport driver Mr Fanuel Nkomo, who operates on the Bulawayo-Lupane route, described the roads as increasingly unsafe, especially at night when poor visibility and potholes create additional hazards. 

“Something urgently needs to be done. The roads are becoming a death trap. The road is riddled with potholes. It’s worse when travelling at night,” he said.

“Truck drivers are not dipping their lights and you end up being forced to move off the road totally to be safe. The road is already narrow and we are afraid that the road will cause accidents.”

Similarly, Ms Chenai Gwaze, a motorist in Bulawayo, lamented the combined challenges of potholes and erratic driving by pirate taxis and kombi drivers.

“We are already having challenges, especially with bad driving from pirate taxis and kombi drivers who just encroach on lanes. Now, we have to navigate dealing with potholes. In the past few months, the situation was better but since it started raining there are potholes all over,” she said.

“We hope the council can do something about the state of roads. What is even more painful is that we are not seeing the value of vehicle licensing if we continue driving on roads filled with potholes.”

BCC communications officer, Ms Bongiwe Ngwenya, said the council is aware that the city’s roads have deteriorated since the onset of the rains.

She explained that about 75 percent of Bulawayo’s road network has exceeded its economic lifespan, making repairs difficult. 

While gravel patching has been used as a stopgap measure, it is not a permanent solution, and the shortage of road repair materials, particularly asphalt concrete, has hindered progress.

“If it rains potholes re-emerge and by patching a road pavement that has outlived its life span, we are treating symptoms and leaving the root cause. Gravel patching is a temporary measure to keep the city’s road network trafficable. 

“We resort to gravel patching due to a shortage of road repair materials attributed to funding constraints,” said Ms Ngwenya.

She said due to the heavy rains, their teams are unable to do any major road works, including pothole patching.

“This has further been worsened by a lack of road repair materials like asphalt due to the annual mandatory shut-down for the construction industry. In the meantime, the council is focusing on stormwater drainage clearance citywide,” said Ms Ngwenya.

Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Richard Moyo, acknowledged the state of the Victoria Falls Road, noting that while Bitumen World has been contracted to patch potholes, the full reconstruction of the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway is expected to begin after the rainy season.

“The road is in a bad state and the rains have made the situation even dire. But today, I was talking to the provincial roads engineer and he said Bitumen World is on the ground conducting pothole patching just to make the road trafficable,” he said.

Minister Moyo further urged members of the public to avoid crossing flooded rivers or bridges.

“We lost two lives in Jotsholo after two people attempted to cross a flooded river. In case you find that the river is flooded you would rather request accommodation in nearby homesteads. I’m sure they will understand your plight,” he said.

Cde Knowledge Kaitano, a member of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport, stressed the need for timely maintenance and the revival of defunct Road Maintenance Units to ensure that roadworks are carried out efficiently across the country.

“The people of Zimbabwe have seen the changes that are happening on the country’s roads every year. There have been some improvements on some of the roads and they want that process to be accelerated across all the roads,” he said.

“They want more funding to be availed for the maintenance of roads, this is what they want. It is normal that when the rains occur roads are damaged but what the people want is that the roads are maintained timeously.”—@nqotshili.