Diary of a South African roadtrip

The BBC's Peter Biles is keeping a diary of his travels across South Africa examining issues facing the governing African National Congress (ANC) ahead of its major leadership contest and national conference in December:

THURSDAY 1 NOVEMBER

Bisho, Eastern Cape

There are daily reminders that the Eastern Cape is a largely rural area.

Owen Tshete points to some of the shoddy workmanship in Peddie SA roadtrip: Your comments

Producer Susannah Nicol and I have just rescued a badly injured goat from the side of the N2 highway.

It was knocked over by a passing car.

Last night, we narrowly avoided another collision when a warthog scurried across a mountain road in front of us near Fort Beaufort.

The volume of livestock and animals on the roads is a serious hazard.

Even in Bisho, Eastern Cape's provincial capital, cows graze on the verge in the centre of town.

Bisho is a truly odd place. It was an apartheid-era creation.

The white government of the day set up nominally independent states in black homelands such as Ciskei, Transkei and Boputhatswana.

But they were never recognised internationally, and became a standing joke around the world, not least when the flag pole fell down during Ciskei's "independence" ceremony in 1981.

Soulless

The history of South Africa's homelands is an unhappy one.

I notice a sign on the road into Bisho pointing to the site of the Bisho Massacre.

In 1992, 28 people were killed when the trigger-happy Ciskei homeland security forces opened fire on protestors taking part in an ANC-led march.

Today, Bisho is little more than an administrative centre.

It is a soulless place where even the atmosphere in the local taxi rank is subdued.

All the commercial activity is a few kilometres down the hill in neighbouring King William's Town.

There, the jacaranda trees and bougainvillea are looking their best at the moment.

I have been visiting the town of Peddie on the road to Grahamstown to learn about the problems stemming from poorly constructed government-subsidised housing for the poor.

Nosimo Balindlela is disheartened by the housing backlog

Twenty-three-old Owen Tshete, who is unemployed, shows me around the matchbox homes. There is electricity, water and sanitation here, but the construction work has been shoddy, to say the least.

Crumbling brickwork, rusted warped door frames and leaky windows allow the rain in.

"I like my government. I vote for the ANC, but this house is not right for me," says Mr Tshete.

It is clear there have been major difficulties with contractors, a funding crisis and a failure of Eastern Cape's financial management.

Jay Kruuse from the Public Service Accountability Monitor at Rhodes University warns that corruption can thrive when there are inadequate financial controls.

The Eastern Cape Premier, Nosimo Balindlela, says she is disheartened by the province's housing backlog.

"We know about the Peddie houses and we decided not to pay the contractors until the mistakes are rectified."

The needs of this province are great, and the improvement of local and provincial government is simply part of the challenge.

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