A legal route for a village road

Nogqala village, AB Xuma district – Eastern Cape

Source articles published in February 2025

The roads in the Eastern Cape are so bad that in 2024, the South African Human Rights Commission found that the state of infrastructure went against the Constitution. Frustrated by the AB Xuma municipality’s unwillingness to repair a vital access road, residents in Nogqala took the municipality to court.

What is the problem?

The road to Nogqala village is deeply inadequate, with the area only accessible via long detours. Residents in the village experience great difficulty in reaching the closest towns of Ngcobo and Ugie, cutting them off from workplaces and amenities like food shopping, banking, and medical care. School children, who walk long distances to school along poor roads, are especially hard hit as during the rainy months they are forced to stay home.

In 2021, the AB Xuma municipality started constructing a bridge to Nogqala village, but two years later, the project was abandoned midway. Adding to the residents’ frustration at the incomplete bridge was that the municipality was unwilling to construct a decent road on either side of the bridge, even though it was obvious to residents and municipal officials alike that this important access road was in terrible condition.

Over the years, community members met with many different councillors and representatives from the municipality. Local government representatives made big promises to fix the roads, but repeatedly failed to fulfil them or even to properly communicate with residents. Frustrated, community members sent a letter to the municipality’s legal representatives, who opposed the letter.

How are they fixing it?

After years of trying other channels, a group of Kunogqala residents took the AB Xuma municipality to court, which successfully ruled in their favour that the municipality was obliged “take all steps necessary” to finally construct a road to Nogqala village and to complete its work on the bridge.

What made it work?

Successful legal action. The lack of a response pushed the community to turn to the courts. Under the banner of Kunogqala Local Residents and six others, they brought a case against the AB Xuma municipality and the municipal manager.

Their case was brought to the Eastern Cape High Court in Mthatha, where their lawyers argued that the municipality’s inaction on the roads was a violation of the residents’ constitutional rights. In February 2025, the court ruled in favour of the community by finding that the prolonged failure to complete the Nogqala road and bridge was against the constitutional. The municipality was ordered with a “clear and unambiguous legal duty” to complete the bridge and construct the access road. The judge also set out a timeframe over the next six months for the municipality to communicate with the residents’ lawyers on the status of the project and on steps to be taken.