By Rex Mphisa
LONG-awaited repairs on the detour at Mazunga some 50 kilometres on the Beitbridge-Bulawayo road have restarted and are expected to be completed by December.
Contractor Bongani Majwabu Moyo said delays were a result of non payment and an outstanding amount of $400 000 is yet to be paid.
Moyo said work is scheduled to be completed in the next four to five weeks and hopefully all should be complete by December.
“We expect finishing before the busy festive season. We were delayed by outstanding payments, we are owed about $400 000 and we hope to finish if given $300 000,” Moyo said.
He was responding to Matabeleland South Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Albert Nguluvhe who accompanied deputy minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development Joshua Sacco and several other government officials to the site.
Nguluvhe said it was sad such a busy road used by travellers and tourists from South Africa to Victoria Falls remained in such a state.
The stretch had also become a crime seen where drivers became victims of armed robbers as they negotiated through the stretch.
Police arrested some suspects but previous similar cases were thrown away after witnesses, mostly truck drivers failed to attend court.
Director of Roads in Sacco’s ministry Jarawani Kangara said the Mazunga repairs were now almost a temporary feature considering Biyumen World had been awarded a contract to upgrade the road from Beitbridge to Victoria Falls.
He said upgrading of the road will now start from Matabeleland South since the ongoing repairs in Matabeleland North were strong enough to last a long time.
Kangara said finalisation of Bitumen contract is underway and the contractor would soon be on the ground.
To the contractor Kangara said his ministry deliberately chose a contractor from Matabeleland South hoping he would have an emotional attachment to a project at home.