DURBAN - COMMUNITIES across KwaZulu-Natal continue to deal with the aftermath of last month’s devastating floods.
Parents in Mpola, Mariannhill, have to wake up in the early hours of the morning to help their children across a river to get to school after the bridge over the Umhlatuzana River washed away in the April floods.
Children of Jubilee Primary School could not go to school for almost a week after the bridge washed away, forcing parents to take the matter into their own hands.
They built a makeshift wooden bridge which the children are now using to cross the river.
When The Mercury visited the area this week, parents said they were worried about the safety of the bridge, especially for the small children.
One of the parents, Lindiwe Ngcobo, said they wanted assistance from the government because the bridge was the only route to schools and local health centres.
“Some of the older children have helped others cross by carrying them on their backs,” she said.
Jubilee Primary School governing body spokesperson Mbongeni Madlala said the ward councillor had visited the area to assess the damage.
“We, as the community, won’t rush the councillor to fix the bridge, but we would like him to come up with a temporary solution to this matter because things cannot go on like this,” he said.
Ward 15 councillor Sgananda Shezi said he was aware of the issue and said the bridge would be repaired.
He urged the community members to be patient with him as another bridge at Tshelimnyama also needed to be attended to.
He added that there were limited resources and teams were working as fast as they could.
KZN Education spokesperson Sihle Mlotshwa said the department was not aware of the situation at Mpola.
“We, as the department, were not aware of that. We would like to urge the transport department to look into the matter urgently and offer some assistance to the community of Mpola. Although we would’ve loved to offer school buses for the affected children, we can't because our budget is constrained,” said Mlotshwa.
The KZN Department of Transport could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.
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