Damaged bridge “causing accidents”

Residents in the Kutama area are concerned about the damaged bridge on the R523 road. The bridge is between Tshikwarani village and Louis Trichardt. So far, according to local motorists, the bridge had caused many serious car accidents and has claimed at least three lives.

“We are afraid that, if the government does not fix this bridge, more lives are going to be lost,” said a resident, Mr Gilbert Muofhe. “This is one of the busiest main roads in the country and a lot of people who use this road are just first-timers who do not know about the fallen bridge.”

Another resident and motorist, Mr Stephen Mbelengwa, said that the bridge had cost him a long-time friend whom he loved. “This bridge had killed my best friend, Mr Kenneth Thwalima, some three years ago,” he said. “I thought that the district municipality would do something about the bridge since this problem had been pointed out to the district mayor’s office during an imbizo in our area.”

“There is no proper visible signage showing that there is a dangerous bridge ahead,” said Mbelengwa. “And during the night it is very dangerous. My best friend’s life was stolen by that bridge. My question is how many people must die so that that bridge and that road can be repaired?”

The spokesperson for the Roads Agency Limpopo, Mr Maropeng Manyathela, said that the office’s team had visited the affected bridge a fortnight ago. “Our engineers have been to the site last week for an assessment, after the matter was brought to our attention,” he said. “The bridge will be repaired in the 2016/17 financial year.”

Mbelengwa described the Roads Agency’s promise to repair the bridge in the current financial year as a “vague expression”. “We need a definite date for the start of the construction on that bridge and not just departmental rhetoric,” he fumed.

News - Date: 12 May 2016

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]