Safety of Gauteng’s bridges under scrutiny

in 1897. The inspection was done in 2016 and is scheduled for maintenance next year.”

In the wake of the N3 bridge collapse, Sowetan visited several bridges in Johannesburg and surrounding areas.

In Kliptown, Gauteng transport MEC Ismail Vadi opened a newly refurbished bridge on Monday, two years after it had been closed for use following a truck accident.

Back at Angus Station in Vereeniging, 64-year-old security guard Frans Mbakaza, who waits for his train ride home under the bridge, felt equally safe.

“It has been over 10 years that I have been using this bridge and I use it all the time when I go to work. It is safe ... it will not fall like the N3 bridge; it has pillars,” he said.

Just a few metres away from Mbakaza sat a pensive Sipho Mbele, 25, who said he feared the bridge would fall any time.

“If a truck drives past while I am walking on the cracked area, it shakes. It scares me, I think it may fall,” he said.

Mbele, a salesman at a local shop, said he had been using the bridge for two years and it had not been maintained in that time. “I use this [bridge] twice a day from Monday to Saturday. I would be happy if they fix it,” he said.

In the Johannesburg CBD, Bruce Ndlovu, 23, uses the iconic Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth and Harrison bridges everyday and his only complain is crime.

“The nyaope boys break the poles on the bridges and sell them to get money to get high.

“If they cannot get the poles, they rob us instead,” he said.

Ntombifuthi Mtila, an IT student at Rosebank College, said the Mandela bridge was shaky, especially when cars drove by fast. “I do not know what causes that but it makes me feel unsafe. It’s scary at times and I wonder if it will crash,” she said.

When the Sowetan’s team visited other bridges this week, it found:

• Metal fencing removed on the M1 South/M2 split in Johannesburg;

• Shattered and missing glass fencing on the Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg;

• Human waste on Harrison and Queen Elizabeth bridges in Johannesburg.

masemolam@sowetan.co.za

PHOTOS / MDUDUZI NDZINGI Siboniso Dlamini crosses the Angus Bridge on Old Vereeniging Road every day.

A pedestrian bridge collapsed on to the N3 highway near Germiston on the East Rand recently. Five people were injured.