It would seem that road users will have to make peace with the fact that the busy R522 between Louis Trichardt and Vivo will remain in its current state – dangerous, almost undrivable in places, and far worse than before Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) started rehabilitating it.

RAL is clearly currently facing significant challenges in delivering on its mandate to maintain Limpopo’s roads. The rehabilitation of the R522 is just one of many contracts negatively affected, mainly due to severe budget cuts.

Regarding the R522, South African taxpayers are nearly R8 million poorer, with little to show for it except a dangerously degraded stretch of road. The R522 was earmarked for rehabilitation in April 2024, but work ground to a halt after the appointed contractor, Tycofield, delivered just 15% of the project. Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) terminated Tycofield’s contract in November last year, leaving the road in worse condition than before and with no clear indication of when construction will resume.

RAL spokesperson Danny Legodi later confirmed that the process of appointing a new contractor was under way, with tenders for the 24 km repair project closing on 17 February 2025.

According to the most recent information, RAL is responsible for maintaining a provincial road network of about 20,000 km. Of this total, approximately 6,000 km are paved (tarred) roads, and the remainder, around 14,000 km, are unpaved (gravel) roads.

Ms Marie Helm, Member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature and the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) spokesperson for Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure, recently painted a bleak picture regarding RAL. On 31 July this year, she issued a statement claiming that the situation has now gone from bad to worse.

In her statement, Helm indicates that RAL is currently facing significant challenges regarding road maintenance and upgrades in Limpopo, including the R522. The R522 project in the Makhado municipal area has, according to her, been completely abandoned, with no contractor appointed as of July 2025, despite previous promises that maintenance work would start on 1 April 2025. This abandonment is largely attributed to severe budget cuts for RAL, with its funding reduced from R2.886 billion in 2024/25 to under R1 billion in subsequent years, impacting its capacity to maintain and improve roads effectively.

This situation reflects broader funding and operational constraints affecting RAL’s ability to maintain the province’s roads adequately. Helm said that the DA in Limpopo had written to Limpopo Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure MEC Ernest Rachoene, expressing grave concern about the number of RAL projects, including the R522 project, that have been abandoned after RAL was stripped of almost all of its functions. She said that the MEC was creating massive chaos, and the residents of Limpopo were suffering as a result. For months now, Helm claimed, the department and RAL had refused to answer questions about these abandoned roads.

“My next step, which I have already taken, is to send a list of all the outstanding queries I have to the chairperson of the portfolio committee on Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure. He has promised that he will follow up. If he does not follow up, there will be reports on Public Works tabled in the provincial legislature next week. I will then submit a PAIA application, and the head of the department will have to sign it for me. I will then follow up in terms of the PAIA legislation. I hope we get somewhere, but I think RAL is now falling apart to such an extent that I doubt we will make any progress. But let’s try,” Helm said on Monday this week.

What concerns Helm is the fact that, despite a dramatic cut to RAL’s budget for projects and maintenance, their salary bill continues to grow. “It seems to me that RAL has now become an entity solely for cadre deployment. There is no money to do anything, yet their staff budget keeps increasing,” said Helm.

According to RAL’s 2024/25 budget, the revised estimate for employee costs was just under R130 million for around 90 staff members. For the 2025/26 financial year, this amount grew to just over R145 million, nearly R163 million for the 2026/27 financial year, and R229 million for the 2027/28 financial year.

“One of my questions is: What about all those skilled people who now work at RAL – engineers, road designers, road builders, project managers – all of them? What happens to them? You are now paying people, but they have no work, because their work has been taken away. So, we are paying millions of rands for people who are sitting around doing nothing,” said Helm.

RAL was asked to confirm whether or not the R522 project has been “uncontracted” and, if so, for what reason. They were also asked why no contractor has been appointed, and what medium-to long-term solution they proposed to address the extremely poor and dangerous state of the R522. The media enquiry was received, but at the time of our going to press, RAL had not yet responded or given any indication that they would respond.