Diepsloot bridge promises are political hot air – DA
DIEPSLOOT– Mayor promises a new bridge where a six-year-old girl was swept away by a stream.
City of Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Parks Tau’s recent pledge to build a pedestrian bridge at the site where six-year-old Angela Sibanda was swept away in Diepsloot was dismissed as an electioneering gimmick by the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Sibanda and three other schoolgirls fell into a stream while trying to cross it during a heavy downpour. The other three girls were rescued.
Tau made the promise while officially opening Ingonyama Bridge in Diepsloot. The mayor expressed his condolences to the Sibanda family, adding that if a bridge had been built earlier the child’s life would have been saved.
“The council is going to budget for this bridge so that we do not continue to experience such fatal occurrences,” said Tau.
But DA councillor in the area, Refilwe Mathebula, dismissed the promises as political hot air. She lashed out at the City for promising to build a bridge after a young life had already been lost. “In these modern periods [sic], should children be still swept away by streams on their way from school? Honestly, this can’t be allowed to happen in this day and age,” said Mathebula.
Mathebula also complained about the swampy Ext 6 where Reconstruction and Development Programme houses were built but which she said was not fit for human settlement. “The stream is flowing through the people’s homes and they have to drill holes through their house to free water trapped in their homes,” said Mathebula.
