Crate by crate – this is how 15 000 day-old chicks are now being carried across a gaping hole in the R62 in the Eastern Cape’s Langkloof, after hundreds of millimetres of rain fell over several days from 5 May.
By Carien Kruger, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
Riaan Strydom, owner of Bokmakierie Holdings and a broiler and fruit farmer from the Krakeel River area, says he has no choice. He tried routing a consignment through Willowmore, but the detour adds more than 500km, thousands of rands in diesel costs and six to seven hours of travelling time. His solution is to use one truck to bring the chicks from Gqeberha to the washed-away section, while a second truck waits on the other side. Ten workers then carry the crates across – a process that takes about 40 minutes.
According to Strydom, the road collapsed where mountain streams, swollen into rivers by the deluge, eroded the ground beneath the road next to a bridge.
The washed-away section, located between Joubertina and Kareedouw about 35km from his farm, has effectively severed the Langkloof from the rest of the Eastern Cape, impacting not only Bokmakierie Holdings – which also operates fruit, transport, butchery and abattoir divisions – but everyone in the valley dependent on the R62.
Strydom, 45, says he has never seen such rainfall, a sentiment shared by older residents. Rainfall in the kloof averaged between 400mm and 500mm, with some areas receiving significantly more – a weather station on his farm recorded 1 009mm, at times falling at up to 20mm per hour.
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Detours too expensive
The disruption affects not only Strydom’s chicken transport operations but also meat deliveries and his transport company. Refrigerated trucks normally make daily runs from Tuesday to Saturday to Port Elizabeth, Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp and St Francis Bay, but detours via Willowmore or George add around 500km per trip. The additional diesel cost alone is between R2 500 and R3 000 per refrigerated truck – excluding larger vehicles. As a workaround, meat is now transferred between two refrigerated trucks on either side of the washout.
Bokmakierie Holdings’ transport division is equally strained. Loads collected in Tsitsikamma and transported to Cape Town now require a detour via George, passing through the toll gate twice. “You don’t make a cent of profit – you only lose money. And you can’t increase your prices, because customers will simply go elsewhere.”
Strydom estimates the damaged road is costing the Langkloof between R300 000 and R500 000 per day. With 20 to 30 fruit containers leaving the valley daily, a R10 000 detour surcharge per container alone accounts for R300 000. Grocery deliveries to Langkloof shops and weekly gas supplies have also been disrupted. Strydom warns of a further consequence: The volume of diverted heavy traffic is likely to destroy the cement road at Willowmore, which was never designed to carry such loads.
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Eastern Cape roads under scrutiny
Strydom hopes the road will be repaired soon but, given the Eastern Cape roads department’s track record, remains doubtful.
Sanral has indicated that a bypass should be completed within four weeks, though Strydom is sceptical this deadline will be met. Sanral first has to conduct a study, with surveyors reported to have visited the damaged site on 14 May.
The Eastern Cape government was already contracted to rebuild the Langkloof Road, with completion scheduled for the end of this year. The contractor, who was meant to start at Louterwater in July last year, only began in late August and has since gone bankrupt, having done virtually no meaningful work.
“They haven’t broken up a single section of tar,” says Strydom, adding that the contractor’s only activity was roadside work and stop-and-go points that severely disrupted the harvesting process. A replacement contractor is now reportedly being sought.
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