Residents building bridges

People in eThekwini are battling to recover in the aftermath of the April 2022 floods, which came on top of the July 2021 unrest.

Residents say they cannot rely on a municipality hobbled with factional political infighting.

It was already failing them well before the disasters struck.

Those who have the know-how and resources are forming associations to fix their infrastructure.

Marcus Richards is spokesperson for Team Pompene, a group of 10 residents from Shallcross, south of Durban, who rebuilt a bridge across the Mhlatuzana River at the Northdene border.

The bridge is a main thoroughfare connecting Shallcross to Northdene and onwards to the western and eastern hubs of Durban. It is used by thousands of people daily.

After numerous requests for help went unanswered by SA National Roads Agency and the department of transport, Team Pompene restored the bridge without municipal assistance – in just four working days at a cost of just over R25 000.

Every part of the process was documented and made open source so other communities could follow their example.

As a result, Team Pompene was called in to project manage the restoring of the Hans Dettman bridge, which connects 12 suburbs in Durban. It was fixed in less than a week, again without municipal assistance.

Team Pompene’s “how to” guide of self-funded bridge repairs has assisted communities in eMdloti and La Mercy, north of Durban.

The La Mercy Residents Association struck up a private-public partnership with the SA National Defence Force to restore the M4. The eThekwini municipality had estimated it would take six months before restoration could even begin.

Richards says their work has exposed the municipality’s inflated costs of repair and its slowness.

“Shallcross ... has been left to fend for itself,” says Richards. “If we could get ourselves off the grid, that would be a goal we would put our efforts behind.”

The municipality did not respond to questions.