Please find attached soundbite in English by Morris Molotlegi.
Please find attached soundbite in Setswana by Morris Molotlegi.
- Learners have endured unsafe access to Manamakgoa Secondary School for more than five years due to deteriorating municipal roads.
- Poor road conditions threaten learner safety, disrupt schooling and isolate the community.
- The DA calls on Moses Kotane Local Municipality to urgently repair the road and restore safe access to education.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on Moses Kotane Local Municipality to urgently repair the severely deteriorated access road leading to Manamakgoa Secondary School in Manamakgoteng, Ward 22, after years of neglect have placed learners, educators, and residents at unnecessary risk (see photos here, here, here, and here).
For more than five years, the municipality has reportedly failed to maintain this critical municipal road, despite repeated requests from the school and the surrounding community. During a recent oversight visit, the DA engaged with parents, educators, and residents who described the daily challenges caused by the road’s deteriorating condition.
The poor state of the road has serious consequences for learner safety and access to education. Parents report that scholar transport vehicles struggle to navigate deep potholes and severely damaged sections of the road, particularly during rainy weather. In some instances, vehicles become stuck, preventing learners from reaching school safely.
Residents further report that taxi operators have stopped servicing the area because of the poor road conditions, forcing many learners to walk long distances to and from school. This not only places additional financial and logistical burdens on families but also exposes learners to unnecessary safety risks.
The deteriorating road also affects educators, whose private vehicles are regularly damaged while travelling to the school, placing further strain on an already challenged education environment.
What makes this situation particularly concerning is that the community has repeatedly sought assistance. The school has formally requested intervention from the municipality, while educators and community members have even resorted to filling potholes themselves in an attempt to make the road safer. Maintaining municipal roads, however, is the responsibility of the municipality and not residents or teachers.
The DA believes that access to safe, reliable road infrastructure is essential to ensuring that learners can exercise their constitutional right to basic education. When municipalities fail to maintain critical infrastructure serving schools, it is learners and their families who ultimately bear the consequences.
The DA therefore calls on Moses Kotane Local Municipality to:
- Acknowledge and respond to the requests submitted by Manamakgoa Secondary School.
- Conduct an urgent technical assessment of the road.
- Publish a funded and time-bound plan to repair and rehabilitate the road.
- Engage with scholar transport operators and the community to minimise disruptions while permanent repairs are undertaken.
Communities should not have to wait years for basic infrastructure to be maintained. Safe access roads are fundamental to education, public safety and economic opportunity.
Roads like these do not deteriorate overnight but the result of years of poor governance and neglected maintenance. The upcoming Local Government Elections give residents an opportunity to choose a municipality that puts service delivery first. The DA will continue fighting for local government that works for every community.