When the community members of Lambani village that is located about 53 kilometers outside Thohoyandou town heard that a R26 million bridge that would connect them with other villages and give them better access to service delivery was to be built, they were filled with excitement.
The Ha-Lambani area covers about 18, 68. per kilometer of the Thulamela the municipality, with a population of 3,450 in 935 households.
The deep rural area of Ha-Lambani is one area that experiences a lot of heavy rainfalls which lead to damaged roads, the damage affects roads that are used to deliver some of the necessary services. Constructing a new bridge was a solution to this problem.
That’s when Thulamela Municipality in 2019 June started with the construction of the new bridge, the project was supposed to end in April 2020 after 11 months with a budget of R17 Million.
However when the Mayor of Thulamela Municipality, Cllr Mushoni Tshifhango was delivering his State of the Municipality address on Friday last week he said the overall budget for the bridge is R26 256 318,71.
“We will embark on a program to develop some of the access roads and bridges with Thulamela in this financial year. Ha-Lambani Bridge with a budget of R 2million rands which is aim for this coming financial year however the overall budget is R26 256 318,71.” Said the Mayor in his speech.
Chairperson of the staring committee, Mr Steven Munyamela said that in the books of the community the budget allocated for the Bridge was R17 Million.
“In our books here, we have R17 million, even when they came to us they told us about the R17 Million budget,” he said.
Munyamela also stated that whenever they ask questions as a community representatives they are told to shut up and stop giving orders because they are not qualified civil Contractors.
“When one of the community members tried voicing out about the state of the bridge on Facebook, Thulamela Municipality was quick to respond labeling his pot as fake news.
Thulamela Municipality wishes to acknowledge and make necessary correction on the Facebook post-dated the 19th of June 2021
The project in question is a work in progress, the only outstanding things are: lifting of precast beams, construction of deck slap, construction of the outlet wingwalls and construction of approach roads.
We wish to reiterate and assure community members that the contractor is on-site, the project is not abandoned and will be completed as planned and within the 26 million budget as tabled by the Mayor during his budget speech address.” Thulamela Municipality responded via their Facebook page.
The Thulamela Municipality spokesperson Mr Nndwayamato Tshiila said the construction of the bridge is almost done and it will be handed to the public in August this year.
“The constructor is on-site as we speak, we are only left with a deck slab, outlet wing wall and to join the approach road.” He said.
Tshila also assured the community members that their money is safe.
´we didn’t give the constructors the full R26 million.” He said the National lockdown played a major role in delaying the progress of the construction.
The Community Liaison Officer of the project Ms Mbavhalelo Ramatamba said they only had to stop working for one because of Covid-19 regulations and the national lockdown in March last year.
According to Ramatamba, the project stopped because they are waiting for the precasting bin.
“We were told that the pre-casting bins will come before in April this year and since then they have not arrived.”
She said the shortage of labor is also delaying the construction process.
“Only 10 people are hired and we are working on two bridges, which sometimes we have to divide into two groups and it delays the process.” She added.
Journalist: Maanda Bele
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