Pregnant women from Mpame village in Elliotdale will no longer suffer the indignity of having to give birth on the banks of Mncwasa River.
For a long time, they could not cross a raging Mncwasa when it rained and ended up going into labour while trying to find ways to go across the river on their way to Madwaleni or Zithulele hospitals.
This was because there was no proper bridge.
But the years of anguish were forgotten on Friday when co-operative governance and traditional affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize visited Mpame village under Mbhashe municipality, to officially unveil a new R10.4-million bridge.
The bridge connects Mpame residents and several other villages to the two hospitals and other government services.
Mkhize was accompanied by public works minister Thulas Nxesi, Cogta deputy minister Andries Nel, premier Phumulo Masualle, Cogta MEC Fikile Xasa and Mbhashe mayor Samkelo Janda. Elderly resident Nozukile Mvandla said women in Mpame would no longer have to be stripped off their dignity by having to give birth near the river.
“Many children have been born on the banks of Mncwasa for decades,” she told journalists on the sidelines of the unveiling of the Mpame bridge.
“If the river was full, we just couldn’t get across. But now we will be able to go to hospital whenever we want to.”
Her words were echoed by her neighbour, Nolathile Tengile, who said some people had also lost their lives while trying to cross Mncwasa.
The new bridge is 64 metres long and 6.1 metres wide, and includes 150-metre concrete slabs on either side of it.
The slabs cost around R2.6m and are meant to counter the steep terrain on both sides of the bridge.
The rest of the money was used to build the bridge itself, including several cement pillars underneath as well as steel rails on either side.
But Masualle conceded that the provision of proper bridges, especially in rural communities, was one of the biggest challenges facing the provincial government.
However, he said they were excited with the intervention from the national Cogta department, and told Mkhize they would be happy if the road could also be paved.
But Mkhize told Masualle that his department did not have a programme to ensure that the Mpame road was paved.
Mkhize described the stories about women giving birth on the banks as a sad situation, but promised that the bridge would bring residents of Mpame freedom of movement.
Mkhize also lambasted the deaths of six children in Matatiele earlier this year, who drowned while trying to cross an overflowing river.
“These things should not be happening.”..