Bridge frustration for motorists
MBABANE - Frustrating!
The above word describes the experience Mpolonjeni residents and motorists have been going through in the past few weeks.
This is in relation to a bridge which has developed potholes in which rainwater collects, resulting in their vehicles being damaged. The residents, most of whom are motorists, travel daily to and from work over the bridge. Some of the motorists have raised concerns following that the condition of the bridge has worsened as the rains continue to fall. “My car has developed mechanical faults because every day I have to avoid potholes when crossing the bridge,” said Abdul Shongwe, who drives over the bridge every day when going to work.
Driving
Another motorist said driving over the bridge in the past weeks had been a hassle because of the heavy rains which continued to cause further damage.
He said if the rains continued, the bridge might fall apart, making it impossible to cross to the other side.
Samukelisiwe Mthupha said the potholes were increasing in size and fixing her car would be a waste of time because it would breakdown again.
“You say a little prayer when you have to drive over the bridge because your car will always come out damaged. We tried as a community at one point to make sure that it is fixed but our material was not enough,” she said. Meanwhile, other motorists raised a point that the depleting bridge was becoming a huge disadvantage to them as they now had to opt for a longer route, via Mahwalala leading to town. Mphikeleli Zwane said such was expensive because driving through Mahwalala meant more fuel costs. “I have opted for the other route by Mahwalala, which is very long, but a bit better compared to this bridge. I think we underestimate how expensive car service and maintenance is,” said Zwane. The Mahwalala route is estimated to be 15 minutes longer than the Mpolonjeni route, which directly leads to the highway or the Sandla route.
Bhekisisa Mlotjwa said the Mahwalala route was a stretch but that it was the only option they had.
Sharing the same sentiments were kombi operators, who said they now had to think twice about collecting customers because it left their vehicles damaged. Kombi driver and owner Sabbath Dlamini said it was an unfortunate situation they were in because it meant letting down their customers.
“As things stand, Mpolonjeni does not have enough operating kombis but the ones we have are being damaged by the bad bridge daily,” said
Dlamini. Another kombi driver said he had personally not stopped ferrying the residents but employed other means to meet them halfway.
The driver, Lusendvo Nkambule, said he usually dropped off the residents just before the bridge.
“These are difficult times where people get killed so you cannot just leave them anywhere,” he said. The residents mentioned that they had made a submission to Bucopho Sandile Hadzebe and Motshane Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Magongo requesting that the bridge be considered for urgent rehabilitation. When reached for comment, Hadzebe said he was aware of the matter and that they were looking into means to fix the bridge.
Derailed
He said the plans were derailed due to lack of money. “Yes, I know the bridge, I use it too. We are working on getting it fixed,” he said briefly.
Meanwhile, MP Magongo said over the past week he had been in constant communication with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. He said they had told him that there was currently an exercise being carried out in the Lubombo Region, which entailed fixing the roads ruined by the rains.
A civil engineer, when asked and shown the state of the bridge, said it was not going to be difficult to fix the bridge but it would be costly. He further said when fixing the bridge, proper and authentic material had to be used because if not, it would easily get ruined should the next rains come. “It should not be that hard to fix this road really, the ministry needs to use authentic material in patching up the potholes which have turned into small rivers. This can be fixed,” he said.