Durban - Truck and trailer manufacturing company Serco has raised concerns about the damage done to the trucks it repairs as well as other vehicles as a result of the state of some South African roads.
The company said on Wednesday that all vehicles, including trucks and trailers, are suffering damage due to the shocking condition of some roads in South Africa.
Serco has repair facilities at its branches in Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Gqeberha.
“Indications are that in many areas the state of roads – especially in country districts – is getting worse rather than being improved. Repairs to potholes and damaged sections of roads are often not done efficiently and soon fall back into disrepair,” said the statement.
Charl Coetzee, who is the managing director of Serco, described what damage the company comes across during repairs.
“We are seeing a lot of damage to suspensions, tyres and rims, and air bags on heavy vehicles – a large amount of which has been caused by the state of roads in some parts of our country.
“The increasing age of fleets is also contributing towards more maintenance being needed to retain the vehicle integrity and limit costly breakdowns. Delays with new replacement vehicles are, however, expected to continue this year and into 2023,” said Coetzee.
In addition, the company said challenges with sourcing new trucks due to global supply chain shortages and delays at the country’s ports have resulted in transporters having to make their vehicles last longer.
Serco said it has seen a noticeable increase in repair sales as a result.
Highlighting an example of a hazardous road, Coetzee said he frequently travelled between Schweizer-Reneke and Wolmaransstad in the North West province.
“It’s about a 60km trip between the two towns and to be honest there is hardly anything left of the road. One often sees vehicles broken down with drivers spending a lot of their time swerving all over to avoid potholes,” he said.
Coetzee said the bad condition of many roads in the North West and Limpopo provinces makes it dangerous for heavy vehicles to travel on them at night and this leads to delivery delays.
Serco spoke to a spokesperson of a national supermarket chain who requested not to be named, who said many roads in South Africa, especially those in urban and semi-urban areas, are in a poor condition with potholes being a serious hazard for the group's trucks and trailers.
He said their vehicles also suffered damage from overhanging trees, especially in country areas, on poorly maintained roads
“We experience damage where our vehicles are unable to avoid potholes while branches from overhanging trees cause damage to windscreens, cabs, fridges, boxes and branding on the side of our big trailers.
“Our focus is on the safety of our drivers and the current general condition of roads puts our drivers at risk. In some areas in South Africa we specify that our trailers must be fitted with dual tyres to mitigate the risk of blow-outs.”
Serco said in an effort to improve the state of provincial roads, the government said in a report recently that it was rolling out a labour intensive road construction and maintenance programme with targets for physical works including resealing, blacktop patching, pothole repairs and maintenance of gravel roads.
“Among projects authorities have committed to is the maintenance of about 20 000km of roads in South Africa’s secondary road network by March next year. These are Provincial roads in urgent need of being upgraded to an acceptable state of repair,” said the company
Coetzee said an efficient road transport network is vital for the prosperity of South Africa.
“The industry cannot perform at its optimum if so many roads are in a mess,” he said
Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula said the department was rolling out the labour intensive roads construction and maintenance programme across South Africa.
He said the programme is putting into action the presidential employment stimulus package to address the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
“This programme entails the construction and maintenance of roads through brick paving activities and road maintenance using a special budget allocation for rural roads. We are creating sustainable job opportunities targeting the youth, women, people with disabilities and small businesses as well as developing the much needed skills,” said Mbalula.