Highway to more development

The lives of the Mahlalela clan and other residents of the northern Swaziland hamlet of Mananga are about to be transformed by the construction of a new highway. For Mamsi Mahlalela, the new route that will open up one of the country's least accessible areas might have saved her father from paralysis if it had been constructed as scheduled years ago. "Baba [father] had a stroke this month and there was no way to get him to the hospital quickly. We need that highway," she said. Most of the half-billion rand project (about US $30 million), which will connect Mananga with another dusty hamlet, Mliba, both in the central region of Manzini, is being funded by a low-interest loan from the Japanese government. The new highway will connect at Mliba with an existing main road running northeast from the town of Manzini, and go eastward to Mozambique. Homes along the completed portion of the highway are noticeably more prosperous. Petrol stations, grocery stores and other substantial buildings line the highway, contrasting with the ephemeral roadside stalls made of sticks beyond the highway's terminus. The area to the north is currently served by a winding dirt road that passes clusters of thatched mud huts where small-scale farmers scratch out subsistence livelihoods on small plots. "It is dry here, but we do not face frequent droughts. With irrigation from the Komati river we can cultivate citrus and sugar cane," said Mfanakhona Dlamini, a farmer near Mliba. Dlamini said the potential for his neighbours to form agricultural cooperatives had always existed, but the main impediment was transporting the produce to the market. "The agriculture ministry buyers do not like coming out here because the road is bad. We wait at the appointed time with our cabbages by the road, but they do not show," Dlamini said. Swaziland's first major modern highway was constructed in the 1960s to serve the eastern lowveld sugar estates, which currently produce the country's chief export. The route was expanded to reach the northern citrus plantations and the Mananga border gate from the east. A north-south route that would cut travel times for commercial truckers headed for central Manzini by a third was stalled by a lack of funding. When completed, the new highway will allow for further expansion of the citrus industry and induce small-scale farmers to upgrade from subsistence farming to cash crops like oranges and grapefruit for the export market, said the agriculture ministry. The Manzini region has the highest rate of HIV infections in the country and people living with the virus in Mananga have complained about the lack of roads, which makes it difficult to access antiretroviral drugs. They have been pressing the health ministry for local dispensaries. "At least with the new highway, ARV distribution will be helped. The time to get to Manzini will be cut in half, and there will be more buses. Currently a lot of bus owners will not service the area because the bad roads are wrecking their vehicles," said AIDS activist Pholile Dlamini.