Farmers and organized agriculture are frustrated over incomplete projects, poor workmanship and a lack of maintenance of the Free State’s aging infrastructure.
Free State Agriculture (FSA) President Francois Wilken said that while job creation remains a national imperative, it cannot be the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for maintaining critical infrastructure.
“If the provincial government is really serious about job creation, it would start by restructuring its own top-heavy human resources system and hire the many desperately needed grader operators and blue-collar workers.
“Currently, farmers are forced to employ retired operators at their own expense just to have deteriorating gravel roads sharpened, and that is only when a state-owned grader is operational. The centralized management of the yellow fleet, coupled with preferential purchasing systems, has led to the collapse of maintenance and repairs of essential state vehicles and equipment,” he said.
Disaster on FS roads
FSA members have repeatedly warned the Ministry of Roads and Transport about the poor and delayed workmanship of designated contractors.
“Projects such as the R709 Tweespruit-Excelsior road and the recently completed R708 Clocolan-Marquard road are prime examples. Had the Department heeded the FSA’s call to appoint independent consultancy engineers to manage and oversee these projects, as is international best practice, these failures could have been avoided.
“The continued dependence on in-house engineers deployed by the cadre is once again letting the people down,” he said.
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Another example of government failure is the R59 bypass at Viljoenskroon, where a 200-metre section that was flooded three years ago is still flooded. No work has started yet and the costly detour through the city’s industrial area has left those roads in ruins.
The cumbersome two-stage procurement process, compounded by bureaucratic inefficiency and irresponsible senior officials, continues to undermine public confidence and fuel suspicions of corruption and capture.
While some successful projects have been completed and new ones launched, the broader picture remains bleak. Wilken said the trail of failed projects, poor management and mismanaged funds, all under the banner of job creation, has little to celebrate.
Farmers spend money on road repairs
The FSA is still awaiting a response to its Memorandum on Free State Roads, which was handed over to the MEC in February 2025. This document outlines the systemic problems within the departments of community safety, roads and transport, and public works, which have also been raised in the Free State Legislature through councilors and opposition parties. Yet little progress has been made.
“As a result, communities suffer, economic growth is suppressed and criminal syndicates tighten their grip,” Wilken said.
Wilken said farmers are now spending their own money to maintain critical rural roads, which are essential not only for their businesses, but also for their families, workers and surrounding communities to access schools and emergency services.
“This is unsustainable as it diverts resources that could otherwise be invested in growing farms, the sector and the Free State economy.
“As the main driver of economic growth in the province, our farmers feed the nation and provide more than 70,000 real agricultural jobs in the Free State. If agricultural profitability continues to erode because of government ideology, more jobs will be lost and food security will be threatened,” he said.
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Staff Reporter
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