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Transkei 'roads collapsing'
11/01/2008 07:28 - (SA)
Cape Town - The infrastructure of the Transkei is collapsing, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has told President Thabo Mbeki in an open letter.
"When Transkeians supported change... they had a legitimate expectation that misery will, for the first time, be a thing of the past," he said in the letter, which he made public on Thursday.
"But alas that little infrastructure they had is now collapsing with no one trying to reconstruct it."
Holomisa said he was writing to Mbeki in the hope that the president would raise the issue at a policy lekgotla planned by the African National Congress's national executive committee, which Cabinet ministers will also attend.
He said in the past three years service delivery had been drastically affected by infighting over succession in the ANC.
It was no coincidence that the Eastern Cape, one of the poorest provinces, had returned about R1.4bn unspent to the Treasury.
Holomisa said the N2 from Kei Bridge to Umzimkulu was "full of potholes", while roads leading to the Wild Coast, a tourism hub, were worse.
"You do not need to be a qualified engineer to confirm this view," he said.
"For example you can take a drive through towns like Butterworth (Gcuwa) and Mthatha and their suburbs where you are not welcomed by potholes but by ditches."
The same could be said about the electrification of the area, fresh water supply and the state of disrepair of health facilities.
"It is ... hoped that this will not only end up in files, but appropriate steps will be taken and a report back is made," Holomisa said.
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