The construction of a tar road in Centane brought about economic spin-offs for some of the community members.Among the villagers who received temporary employment is a father of two, Mawethu Booi who stays with his wife and two children. He said the job at the construction site brought him the much needed temporary relief.
With pride and confidence, Booi bragged about how he managed to meet the needs of his family. “I have fixed this house,” said Booi while pointing at his two-roomed building.
“My house was destroyed by the storm. The roof was blown away and it had cracks. I had no plan of fixing it.“I was staying in this shack,” he said, pointing to a structure that is now used for cooking and keeping his chickens at night.
Although he was doing odd jobs, he said his salary was not enough to fix his house.
“My dignity has been restored. I managed to provide food and shelter for my family, something that brought back my dignity as a man of the house,” he said.
Department of Transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose said they were excited that community members were also benefiting from their projects. “When the government invests in infrastructure projects, it is an investment in those communities, when we are talking about economic spin offs from the projects that we invest in, this is what we are talking about, job opportunities. Opportunities that will change people’s lives for the better,” he said.
Villagers said their days of suffering were now behind them”, he added.
“The road had parts that were steep and it was impossible to drive after heavy rains,” said one of the villagers, Nosimele Nkathazo. “A trip to town used to take about 30 minutes, now it takes about 10 minutes,” she said.
