Community loses all hope for their bridge
Residents lost all hope of there ever being a bridge which would not overflow during heavy rain, or whenever the Mlumati River was full.
DRIEKOPPIES – Residents lost all hope of there ever being a bridge which would not overflow during heavy rain, or whenever the Mlumati River was full.
On Wednesday morning this came to light when the community gathered at a road closed due to floodwater that had submerged the bridge between Driekoppies and Schoemansdal.
According to one of the residents, he grew up in this area and had witnessed this ever since he was a young boy, and still to this day nothing had been done about it.
“This is not right, people have to go to work, hospitals and schools. How can they do that when it is like this? I grew up here and when I was young it always used to flood. Today it is still the same. This is not right at all,” said a man who asked to remain anonymous.
According to residents, last year they were promised that a new and higher bridge would be constructed in order to avoid such a disaster.
Community members said they had not heard anything more about the matter since they had been told of the construction.
An elderly woman said, “They said they would build us a higher bridge, but how would they do so when they can’t even build us proper roads. Our children drive on poor roads and have to avoid potholes almost every five metres.”
Spokesman for the Nkomazi Municipality, Mr Cyril Ripinga, referred the matter to public works, roads and transport, stating that its was not the competency of the municipality, but that of the provincial government, as the road connected towns.
