RAINS BATTER MAPHALALENI ROADS

MBABANE – Rains are a blessing to many but they have been a curse to Maphalaleni folk who have been grounded due to inaccessible roads.

The ongoing rains have destroyed a total of five bridges which have completely collapsed, making it impossible to cross over to the other side.
The roads are also slippery and no transport is able to travel.

Maphalaleni Member of Parliament (MP) Mabulala Maseko said the roads and bridges were old as they were constructed during the time of the late MP Lomasontfo.

He said proper gravelling in the area was done in 1998 and nothing had been done ever since.

Affected

He said areas that were mostly affected were Nsingweni, Madlolo, Mcengeni, Mfeni, Dlozini and Mthupha.
Maseko said the situation had been worsened by the recent rains.

“We have reported to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport on several occasions, dating back to 2017, where the constituency was affected by hailstorms,” Maseko said.

He said the employed community was forced to walk about 15 kilometres to KaNcesi where there is a tarred road connecting to Nkhaba.
Maseko said there was no other alternative for the community, whether coming from town towards Maphalaleni or either way.

He noted that they were lucky that the situation had worsened at a time when schools had closed as pupils were also going to be affected.
MP Maseko said this was a challenge for even those who wanted to visit the hospital when sick or had sick relatives as they were stranded.

 
He likened the situation to that of the Stone Age era as there was no transport means and people were forced to carry dead bodies with stretchers (luhlaka).
“The situation is very bad and what exacerbates the condition is that the area is mountainous, the roads are slippery and there is no single tarred road,” he said.
Maseko said after receiving a lot of rains, there were a number of crossing points that needed to be reconstructed.

He said in the past, government had used Amcor pipes which were corroding and rusting as they were very outdated, resulting in the collapse of the bridges which were not competently constructed. 

According to Maseko, the bridges were collapsing at almost the same time and it had become dangerous to use the crossings, making movement impossible.
However, through all the challenges, he said the community was not folding their arms as a businessman had contributed 20 boss culverts worth E20 000 each to construct at least two bridges.

Assistance

The MP appealed for assistance from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to come to their rescue to at least help with manpower in putting up the boss culverts.
Further, he said the situation had affected ongoing projects in the area, which had been halted.
He stated that one affected project was the Lubuyane Irrigation where they received E4 million funding from India for Phase I and II.

The MP said the construction company was not able to make any movement, especially to the project site due to the bad road. In an interview with Majobha Dlamini, who is also a resident of the area, he said they were not able to access a number of services due to the inaccessible roads.

These, he said, included medication that had to be delivered in some of the area’s clinics as well as bakery and shops among others. Dlamini said since last week, they had been grounded.

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