Sunday Tribune April 22, 2007 Edition 1

For people in far-flung communities in the Transkei, it’s a Catch-22 situation. They want a road that will improve their lifestyle, but at the same time are not enamoured with the idea of mining on their doorstep.

John Clarke, a consultant social worker and development facilitator based in Johannesburg, feels that local communities are being manipulated by both South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) and those in favour of mining who are presenting their cases in such a way as to make people believe they have their interests at heart.

At a recent meeting Clarke said about 75 people, crowded into a tiny hall in Sigidi, had all opposed the ploughing up of their land to make way for unsightly open-cast mining.

Just as assiduously, though, they had expressed their hopes for a road.

“The amaMpondo (through whose land the toll road will pass) have a very strong attachment to the land,” said Clarke, mentioning that during the Pondo Uprising in the 1960s people had killed chiefs and headmen whom they perceived as having given away their land.

The issues of the Pondoland Park, the toll road and mining were fundamentally land rights issues, he said.

Those in the upper echelons of government had to realise that none of this was a technocratic process. “The reality is there are people living there who have a history of feeling betrayed in the past and are suspicious of any solutions which profess to be looking at ways around their problems.

He pointed out that both the United Nations and the Catholic Church have said it is morally wrong for decisions to be taken at a higher level when those at a lower level were perfectly competent to make such decisions.

Bishop Geoff Davies of the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environmental Institute, and a committee member of Sustaining the Wild Coast, said the only people who would benefit from the toll road would be outside investors, engineers, the trucking industry and the banks.

Those who were meant to see their lives improved by the tarmac snaking through their territory would stand last in line. Those who would be the most detrimentally affected, Davies believes, would be people living between Port Edward and Lusikisiki. “We strongly support improved roads and for years have been pleading with Sanral to build access roads and upgrade existing roads which would be beneficial to the local community,” said Davies.

Turning to those who would benefit from the venture, Davies said the record of decision mentioned a road maintenance contract would be granted for 30 years.

Given the huge costs of bridge building (usually the most costly item in any road construction) engineers also stood to gain lucrative contracts, as did the trucking industry carrying ore from the mines on a well-graded, well-maintained road.

“None of this includes the local community, who will not benefit at all,” said Davies.

According to Neil Macleod, President of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, engineers - who designed the bridges - normally only received about 8% of the value of a project.

The contractors (of which there could be several) normally received 6% of the value of the job and would obviously employ local labour, thus ploughing funds back into the community.

What is also making the bishop hot under his clerical collar is that Sanral seemed to him to have a cavalier attitude, stating the question of toll-free roads was not its responsibility, but fell under the ambit of national roads.

“I get really upset at their advert which says, ‘We are building roads to conserve the environment’,” fumed Davies.

Posted on April 22nd, 2007
Filed under: Newspaper and Media