MBABANE – The increasingly dilapidated state of Eswatini’s roads is taking its toll on the road freight industry who have expressed frustration and concern about expenses incurred. “I am developing a goods and food delivery service like Jumia in Nigeria, but the roads in Mbabane and Manzini, where most of our customers will be, are hard on cars. We’ve got a big question about affordability because we’ll have to budget for repairs,” Vusi Malambe, a Manzini entrepreneur told F T W. A source with the Swaziland Federation of Employers/Chamber of Commerce told FTW the Ministry of Public Works had a chunk of the government budget each year. “But it’s being used for capital projects like the new highway going to the airport, which will go unused because the new airport isn’t used much. The rest of the system is neglected.” “Traffic accidents pose an even greater hazard than crime,” a US government brochure warns American visitors. Even tourism has been affected as disappointed bikers take to social media to lament the difficulty of cycling trips due to poor roads. However, for a country that imports 90% of its goods, including all its petroleum products,primarily from South Africa, the deterioration of roads is an existential economic problem.Streets are maintained by municipalities, which have a challenge financing necessary road repair. Manzini’s city planning department told FTW that it had negotiated with new developers to have them build and maintain roads connected to their projects. The Times of Eswatini reports Mbabane’s worst roads are those connecting the city hospital, ministries and government offices. The newspaper ranks the MR1 as the worst highway in terms of maintenance, citing ongoing fatal accidents.
