The IFP in the KZN Legislature calls upon the KZN MEC for Transport, Sipho Hlomuka, to build a new bridge in Peace Valley, Pietermaritzburg, after an eight-year-old girl was swept away while trying to cross the bridge with her mother earlier this month.
Residents in Peace Valley are forced to use this unsafe, low-level bridge every day.
When the former KZN MEC for Transport, Peggy Nkonyeni, tabled the Department’s R12.4-billion Budget for the 2022/23 financial year in the Legislature on 5 May 2022, she said: “During the State of the Province Address, the Premier gave us marching orders and important tasks to be undertaken. Amongst those is to conduct investigations of all the lower-level structures to assess their safety. This is in response to an outcry in many parts of the province where people were affected, due to heavy rains, water floods above the bridge level.”
The IFP believes that this latest drowning can be attributed – in part – to the ANC government and, more specifically, the Department of Transport’s failure to provide much needed infrastructure to rural communities.
Therefore, this promise must be fulfilled and a new bridge must be built in Peace Valley, as elevated bridges prevent the disruption of drainage patterns. The KZN MEC for Transport must urgently build the bridge in memory of the child that passed away. This will also ensure that no other children die unnecessarily under the Premier’s watch.
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Contact
Mr Steven Moodley, MPL
IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson for Transport
083 253 2277