For years, residents of Sebokeng and Evaton have been forced to use an unsafe makeshift bridge to cross a stream that overflows during the rainy season.
This is because the Emfuleni municipality demolished the previous bridge over a decade ago but has not rebuilt it, claiming it does not have the money.
The makeshift bridge was built for about R8,000 by Vereeniging businessman Julius Kaizer after he received a letter from the desperate communities of Evaton and Zone 7 in Sebokeng.
However, there have been concerns about the safety of the bridge which connects Evaton and Sebokeng. It has no side rails, raising fears for the safety of the schoolchildren and adults who use it daily.
Emfuleni municipal spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni told Sowetan that Emfuleni did not have the budget for a new bridge.
“We are not in a space of building new infrastructure, as our budget is for maintenance of the existing asset,” he said.
Sangweni said the municipality would try to raise the money to resolve the matter, “though we can’t be categorical on the day [it will happen]”.
Motorists and pedestrians used the previous bridge, but it was demolished in 2012 when contractors began a road project that remains incomplete.
The municipality had already spent R52m on the project, which several contractors later abandoned.
This left pupils from five schools using concrete slabs or pieces of corrugated iron to cross the stream.
Two pupils told Sowetan that before Kaizer built the pedestrian bridge, they had fallen into the stream but managed to get out.
“Before the bridge, it was scary, especially after it rained. I used to take off my school shoes and cross,” said a grade 11 pupil.
A grade 10 pupil said that before Kaizer built the bridge, it used to take him 45 minutes to get to school. It now takes him 20 minutes.
However, he does not use the bridge when it rains “because it doesn’t have rails and is slippery”.
A grade 11 pupil said she feels unsafe because it bounces as she walks.
“But it is better than using the long route and getting to school after an hour, because it only takes me 15 minutes,” she said.
An elderly resident, who did not wish to be named, said it previously took him 10 minutes to get to church before the old bridge was demolished.
We are concerned that the municipality states it has no plans to fix the road and install a safer, permanent bridge. Furthermore, the municipality should recover funds from contractors who failed to deliver as per their contractual obligations or blacklist all companies involved in the project.
— Kingsol Chabalala, DA MPL
But he is scared of using the makeshift bridge and now spends an hour getting to church using a different route.
ANC councillor Morena Molefe said he decided to approach Kaizer after the community had been without a bridge for over 10 years.
He said he and others had approached the municipality but were told there were no funds and that the bridge would cost more than R40m to build.
Molefe said residents approached Kaizer to build the pedestrian bridge because it had become difficult for elderly people to reach the service centre, which houses a post office, home affairs offices and the arts and culture department.
Other residents could not reach the police station quickly enough, he said.
Molefe said he had approached Kaizer after seeing one of his trucks in the neighbourhood.
“I wrote a letter on February 10 2024 asking for assistance for the community, and they called me and said they would be able to assist us.”
The makeshift bridge was completed two months later.
The DA inspected the bridge and sent questions to the office of the speaker in November, asking if the council was involved in its construction and if there were plans to build a new one.
The municipality said the bridge was donated by a member of the community and that it did not pay a cent towards it.
Asked if it had a plan to construct a safer bridge, the municipality said: “No.”
DA MPL Kingsol Chabalala said the party found it “deeply disturbing” that more than 10 years have passed since the project to build a new road and bridge started, and R50m had been paid to service providers, yet it remained incomplete.
“We are concerned that the municipality states it has no plans to fix the road and install a safer, permanent bridge. Furthermore, the municipality should recover funds from contractors who failed to deliver as per their contractual obligations or blacklist all companies involved in the project,” he said.
Morena said he will investigate how much it will cost to install side rails on the pedestrian bridge and ask each household to contribute towards buying and fitting them.
Sowetan
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