In our recent study, Unveiling Inequality: The Sociological Dynamics of Road Infrastructure Development and Social Justice in Rural Eastern Cape, South Africa (Frontiers in Sociology, 2024), we examined how deteriorating road infrastructure in rural Eastern Cape perpetuates systemic inequality and human rights violations. This issue is particularly dire in communities such as Mdeni, Mdlankukhu, Upper Tsitsana, Zigudu, Centane, Cwebeni, Xorha, and Gcibhala, where road conditions have remained appalling despite numerous government commitments.
The Eastern Cape State of the Province Address (SOPA) of 2025 reiterated commitments to infrastructure development, yet residents of rural districts like Joe Gqabi and Chris Hani still face inaccessible roads that cut them off from essential services. These roads are lifelines to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, yet their disrepair translates into daily struggles for those who depend on them. In Centane, for example, the road to Thafalofefe Hospital remains in such poor condition that emergency vehicles frequently fail to reach patients on time, leading to tragic delays in medical care. Similarly, in Gcibhala, residents have resorted to constructing their own makeshift roads due to government neglect, reinforcing their exclusion from state resources.
Critical theory, particularly in the tradition of the Frankfurt School, offers a lens through which we can examine this crisis. The persistent lack of road maintenance in these communities is not just an issue of logistical failure but a manifestation of structural inequality. As noted in Unveiling Inequality, infrastructural neglect disproportionately affects historically marginalised populations, reinforcing socio-economic disparities entrenched since the apartheid era. These communities, primarily located in former Bantustans like Transkei and Ciskei, continue to suffer from infrastructural disinvestment that limits their mobility, access to markets, and overall quality of life.
Beyond access to healthcare, deteriorating roads affect education and economic development. In Zigudu and Xorha, learners must endure long and unsafe walks to school because scholar transport is unreliable on impassable roads. Similarly, small-scale enterprises in Ncora and Seven Stars struggle to transport goods, undermining rural economic growth and employment opportunities. The provincial government’s failure to maintain road networks not only violates the right to development but also perpetuates cycles of poverty and exclusion.
The findings of our study highlight the urgent need for accountability in road infrastructure development. The Eastern Cape government must move beyond rhetorical commitments and prioritise the maintenance of rural roads as a matter of social justice. Without tangible action, the promises made in SOPA 2025 will remain hollow, and rural communities will continue to be denied their fundamental human rights.
As sociologists, it is our role to challenge these systemic failures and advocate for equitable infrastructure development. Only through sustained pressure and community-driven activism can we ensure that no South African is left behind due to infrastructural neglect.
Aretha Linden
www.ufh.ac.za