New R18m bridge ends rainy season isolation

Elderly and frail residents from Ngqakaqheni village in Qumbu have for years had to default on their treatment because they could not get to the nearest clinic.

And when it rained too hard pupils had to stay at home for days as the Mdyahomo River, which runs past the village, would overflow.

However, those days will soon be forgotten after Mhlontlo municipal bosses constructed an R18m mabey steel bridge which connects the village and more than 20 others to the rest of Mhlontlo municipality.

Addressing the media during a tour of the new bridge on Wednesday, Mhlontlo’s infrastructure portfolio head Loyiso Yalezo said the steel used to build the bridge had been purchased overseas as it was not available in SA.

“It’s the first of its kind in the whole of OR Tambo district.

“We looked at the fact that the area has a high rainfall density while the river is full of rocks,” he said.

“We then decided as the municipality to build something that could withstand the barrage from the water as well as rock sediments that might be dragged along the river.”

One overjoyed villager, Maphutha Moko, 83, said many people had drowned over the years trying to cross the river.

“The village is littered with graves of people who drowned trying to cross Mdyahomo River. Our children often missed out on school because they had to wait for the water to subside after heavy rains before trying to cross.”

Makhuboni Mongo, 74, told the Dispatch that she had many times had to miss out on her treatment for arthritis because she could not cross the river to get to Caba Clinic when it rained.

Her husband suffers from diabetes and has to get treatment from the same clinic.