The motorists aired their frustrations that the road will continue to be a killer road because of its narrowness and unevenness due to patching.
WHILE motorists call for a complete rebuilding of the entire R31 provincial road that was flooded, some of the big mines indicated that they do not rely on the R31 for their mining activities.
Kumba Iron Ore mine and PMG mine said the temporary closure of the R31 does not affect them because they do not rely on it for mining activities.
The Long Distance Taxi Association did not yet indicate whether or not the closure has affected them, or not.
They did not give clarity either as to whether the detour would lead to the possibility of a price increase for passengers.
This follows the sudden announcement by the Northern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works to close the road due to serious flooding on Monday 28 March 2022.
The motorists suggested that the Northern Cape Provincial Government should stop patching the potholes and rather rebuild the road and bridges on the low lying areas.
The motorists aired their frustrations that the road will continue to be a killer road because of its narrowness and unevenness due to patching.
The R31 was closed between Koopmansfontein and the Danielskuil turnoff.
The flood damage has been experienced on the R31 road about 15 kilometres from Danielskuil in the Kgatelopele Local Municipality in the ZF Mgcawu District Municipal Region, which is approximately 140 kilometres from Kimberley.
Vehicles travelling to Kuruman from Kimberley were diverted to travel on the N12 to Warrenton, Jan Kempdorp, Taung, Vryburg then to Kuruman.
From Postmasburg to Kimberley, they are urged to take the R325 to Griekwastad which is 55km on gravel road, then join the N8 to Kimberley.
From Lime acres to Kimberley, they should use the R385 to Campbell, where they will travel 69km on gravel road), then join the N8.
The Department promised to start the scraping and cleaning process of the mentioned gravel road.
The Department said the flooding on the road due to the recent rains experienced in Kimberley and surrounding areas and announced detour roads in order to clear the long traffic queues, which most were trucks, until late at night on Monday.
The MEC for the Department of Roads and Public Works, Fufe Makatong, said their findings suggest that there are life threatening potholes on this road with some of them being as deep as 1 metre deep.
She said repairs on the R31 was in the 2022/2023 budget before the disaster happened.
According to her, the province was in the process of relinquishing R31 to the South Afican Road Agency (SANRAL).
The road was starting to cause serious damage to most light vehicles.
Some motorists accused the department of not being honest about the real reason for the flooding.
They found it strange that part of the road would flood while the part of the road between Kimberley and Barkly West was not flooded as expected.
One motorist weighed the possibility that the flooded water might have been directed to that portion of the road.
“If the province is struggling so much with funds to maintain the road, why don’t they install toll gates in order to monitor its usage and make it self sustainable.
“That way they will be benefiting from these mining trucks responsible for damaging the road,’ said the driver.
