Summer schools’ woes at Mbelebeleni
Most children are usually forced to stay at home during summer due to heavy rains.
MBABANE – The beginning of the summer season could bring woes to the schools around Mbelebeleni as rains stop pupils from attending classes.
Interviews conducted with teachers in some schools around the area revealed a deeper worry as most children are usually forced to stay at home during summer due to heavy rains.
It transpired that the main problem in the area is crossing the Mbuluzi River which has no bridge.
A teacher at St.
Florence Primary School, Dumisani
Dlamini, said life becomes very difficult for children and teachers around the area during the summer season.
SHattered
“Our lives are shattered during the rainy season in this community.
It was during a visit by the King in 1999, when he openly ordered the ministers of Tinkhundla Administration and the public works to construct a cross-over bridge in the area at that time,” he said. Relating his fear as the rainy summer season beckons, Dlamini said as a community they had been waiting for over 20 years for the construction of the bridge which will be used by pupils and the teachers between Mbelebeleni and Luve on a daily basis.
He revealed that ever since the announcement by His Majesty, the residents in areas such as Nsingweni, Maphalaleni, Mbelebeleni, Madlolo and Luve were eagerly waiting for the order to be implemented to ease the stress, endured by the community during the rainy season.
impoSSible
The teacher revealed that during the rainy season, it was impossible to crossover the bridge as it becomes dangerous, making it impossible for any person or motor vehicle to pass.
“With over 600 pupils attending St. Florence High and Primary School, who use the bridge from Luve (their homes) to Mbelebeleni, where the schools are located, it is difficult to continue with operations with more than half of the pupils absent.
“We wait for the water levels to go down and most of the time it takes over a week to resume classes,” explained Dlamini.
Dlamini said the syllabus of the school is very much disturbed by the unprecedented closures and that was the rea
“We wait for the water levels to go down and most of the time it takes over a week to resume classes.”
son the results were not good at the end of the year.
Dlamini said during the rainy season, they would be stranded and frustrated as they were not able to go to town to buy food commodities and to seek health services.
“We do not receive bread and we are totally cut off from any service during the rainy season hence we are forced to sometimes go to bed without food. It is most painful in the event someone gets sick at night during the rainy season. Ambulances and the members of the Royal Eswatini Police fail to crossover the bridge separating the places,” Dlamini elaborated.
Furthermore, the resident said when it rains; they become vulnerable to criminals who invade their homes as they know that it would be impossible for the police to come even if they were called.
“It is very much disturbing each time it rains and you are in
Manzini, because you know very well that you will have to seek for shelter elsewhere because it would be impossible to travel home through the bridge,” Dlamini pointed out.
Member of Parliament Micheal Masuku echoed Dlamini’s sad tale concerning the need for the construction of the bridge crossing over to Mbelebeleni.
stRanded
“The people in my community have been stranded for a long time as it has been difficult for them to access health and education services during the rainy season,” MP Masuku said. The MP revealed that there are times when people die and it becomes difficult to fetch their bodies from mortuaries.
He also mentioned that even the elderly people are greatly affected as most of them have monthly visits to hospitals to get medical attention.
“This problem of the bridge is a health hazard and we hope that it is constructed soon as even vehicles are found inside the river while trying to cross over to Mbelebeleni and Luve,” Masuku decried.
Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko, who doubles as Member of Parliament for Maphalaleni, declared that the bridge would be contructed soon. Maphalaleni is one of the areas affected by the crossover bridge problem and he was interviewed both as an MP and a Cabinet Minister.
MP Maseko revealed that over 1 000 residents of the area paid E100 to raise the 10 per cent requirement in order to access the micro project funding. Maseko said that the residents organised and raised the 10 per cent, so that the construction of the crossover bridge was possible.
“Micro project has invited interested construction companies to tender for the building of the crossover bridge and we believe that the project would be completed soon,” Maseko pointed out.