Villagers rally to build bridge with their own money

After years of being told by their municipality that there was no money to build a bridge over a stream in their area so they could go shopping and their children get to school, residents of a village in Limpopo took matters into their own hands.

After each household regularly contributed R100 towards building a bridge since 2019, their sacrifice was finally paid on Wednesday when the bridge was officially opened. Some of the residents cried tears of joy as they realised how their lives were set to change by being able to  cross the river without any fear.

The moment was an emotional one for 87-year-old Johannes Maloka as he walked over the new pedestrian bridge.

Residents named the bridge “Bakgalabje le Bakekolo” which means elderly men and women, in honour of the old people in the community who spearheaded the project.

Maloka said it had been painful to see people, especially children, battling to get to school and having difficulties crossing the stream, so he joined hands with other elderly people in the village to start the bridge project.

“It broke my heart to see children struggling to cross the stream; we would go in the morning to help them cross. We decided to take matters into our own hands as the municipality was failing us. We went to the mountain to dig up rocks, and asked the municipality to transport them to the stream. Today I feel very emotional,” he said.

For many years, the communities of Lenkwaneng and Thabakhubedu in Ntwane, Dennilton, struggled to cross over a narrow stream of water that separates the two communities. Grocery shopping was a nightmare for the elderly and pupils would miss school on rainy days.

When it rained, children in Lenkwaneng would not attend school in Thabakhubedu and residents of Thabakhubedu would not be able to take taxis in Lenkwaneng to go to the shopping mall because the stream would be flooded.

For 67-year-old Mmule Tholo, the bridge was a testament to their hard work and she danced with joy and ululated on it. Tholo was part of the group of elderly people who had worked alongside the construction workers to help build the bridge.

“Every month end, I had to take a wheelbarrow and cross with it to the other side to buy maize meal.

“When I come back my grandchildren would meet me by the stream, carry the maize meal over, then go back and fetch the wheelbarrow.

“I once lost my shoe in the stream as my foot was stuck, luckily a man came to help me and carried me over. We worked hard for the bridge and contributed money every time cement was needed. We contributed R100 per house. I thank God that we have a bridge today,” she said.

For Moamogwe Mohlamonyane from Ntwane community development forum, the bridge was a reminder of how their human rights were trampled on as a community.

He said though they are happy that they finally have a bridge, the time it took for them to have it was disappointing.

“It took years to build this bridge because year after year the Elias Motsoaledi municipality said it was not in their budget.

“We constantly had to write to the Human Rights Commission to force them to come and work. They would come to work for a few days and then leave for months, and every time after writing to the commission, they would come and work. It was a game of cat and mouse,” he said

At times, the project would stall because of a lack of building materials and the community would have to contribute from their pockets so that it could continue.

“It was a struggle,” said Mohlamonyane.

The municipality's Simon Makua said Elias Motsoaledi  is a rural municipality that depends on grants for capital projects. According to Makua, various areas within the municipality require low-level crossing for children to access school.

“As per the 2024/25 financial year, no allocation was made for low-level crossings hence there was no budget for a capital project for a bridge,” he said.

Despite that, Makua said, the municipality worked with the community by providing, all the materials required for the construction of the bridge. He said their maintenance team from the roads unit was responsible for ensuring that the backfilling, gabion boxes and concrete were done correctly.  

“There was no timeline set to complete the low-level crossing but community members who were hands-on understood why it took the period it did (to complete).

“The bottom line is that the crossing has been completed and now children can cross safely to school. We also encourage other communities to take charge of such initiatives when faced with such challenges where there is no budget allocation to outsource the service with the collaboration of a technical team from infrastructure,” said Makua.

Ward councillor Thabiso Phorotloe said the bridge is standing today because of the blood and sweat of the elderly people of the community.

“All the municipality did was to bring a cement mixture and transport rocks and culverts here. It is the elderly of this community who worked hard and sometimes slept at the bridge to guard the equipment and building materials.”

Residents said they would like to build a boom gate or a structure that would stop trucks from using the bridge as they feel it is not strong enough for vehicles.

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