Deaths Spark Protest Over Unsafe Bridge Outside Pinetown

• Two people have drowned this month in Molweni, a rural area in western eThekwini just outside Pinetown, in floods caused by heavy rainfall.
• Nomzamo Dlamini and Thabiso Ndlovu were washed away trying to cross a low bridge over the Umngeni River.
• The deaths sparked a protest in the area.

Grade 12 learner Nomzamo Dlamini left home in Molweni, KwaZulu-Natal, on 13 March to go to the school library to submit an assignment. She never came back. The 21-year-old is one of two people who drowned this month, washed away trying to cross a low bridge over the Umngeni River.

The deaths sparked a protest in the area with residents demanding that the municipality build a safer bridge.

Nomzamo had been worried about schoolwork because heavy rain had meant she hadn’t been able to attend school for the whole week, said her father, Thamsanqa Dlamini. When the water level dropped, Nomzamo took the chance to cross the bridge to go to the library. But towards evening, the rains picked up again, and Dlamini grew worried when Nomzamo did not return home. He tried to call her throughout the night as the bad weather continued, but her phone went straight to voicemail, he says.

At 6am, Dlamini called other community members to form a search party to find his daughter. A man who lives near the river told the search party that he had seen someone in difficulty in the river at around 6:45pm the previous evening, but the heavy rain had made it hard for him to see who it was, Dlamini told GroundUp.

The search party moved downstream and found Nomzamo’s body about one and a half kilometres from the bridge.

“I never imagined that my daughter would die in such a way,” said Dlamini.

The low bridge, wide enough for cars and pedestrians, connects two parts of lower Molweni, a rural area in western eThekwini just outside Pinetown.

According to Bongani Shange, a community leader in Molweni, the bridge is at water level for most of the wet season, and spills over after even a little extra rain.

It took community members nearly four days to find the body of 29-year-old Thabiso Ndlovu, who also went missing on 13 March.

Liliza Ndlovu, Thabiso’s mother, said her son had gone to visit a friend on the other side of the river in the afternoon. That evening, when the rains picked up and Thabiso still hadn’t come home, she began to worry, she said. She called Thabiso’s friend, who told her that he had left to go home at about 9:30pm.

Ndlovu immediately started making phone calls to friends around the Inanda and Molweni areas, but no one knew of Thabiso’s whereabouts. A search party of community members found Thabiso’s body about three kilometres downstream from the bridge, almost four days later.

Ndlovu said that when she saw her son’s body, she went into shock. Community members rushed her home, because she was struggling to stand.

The deaths triggered a protest on 18 March, when residents blockaded Fannin Road, the main road leading into lower Molweni, with tyres.

They were demanding that the eThekwini municipality build a higher bridge that would be safe to cross when the water rises, said Londiwe Zulu, a Molweni resident.

Protesters wanted an official from the mayor’s office to come to accept a memorandum, but no officials came, said Zulu.

“I am not happy that the eThekwini municipality officials decided not to come to listen to our demands because it seems as if our rights have been violated. On Friday, some people were celebrating Human Rights Day, but we were mourning,” said Zulu.

According to Shange, promises of a new bridge have been made in the past by the municipality and previous ward councillors.

Since 2022, six people have died from the flooding of the river and two are still missing, said Shange.

Learners are particularly at risk as Tholulwazi Secondary School and Bazamile Primary School lie on opposite sides of the river. Nomzamo Dlamini attended Tholulwazi Secondary.

Ward councillor Siyabonga Nala told GroundUp that two other bridges in the area had been washed away.

Groundup visited one of the bridges, about five kilometres east of the bridge where Nomzamo and Thabiso were washed away. That bridge was damaged in the 2022 floods and has not been replaced.

Community members told GroundUp that they stack rocks across the damaged area in order to cross, but when the rains come the rocks wash away.

A bridge five kilometres away has not been repaired since it was damaged in the 2022 floods.

In response to GroundUp’s questions about the Molweni bridge, Gugu Sisilana, municipality spokesperson, said, “The City is in the process of finalising a contract for multiple bridges along Fannin Road. Construction will be carried out in phases, starting in 2026. It is important to note that the entire Fannin Road area is located on a floodplain, making the development of a flood-resilient solution a complex challenge. Our engineers are actively working on the best possible approach.”

About the other bridge GroundUp visited, Sisilana said questions should be directed to the provincial department of transport “as the road was under the ownership of the department when that bridge was built”.

“However,” she said, “the City is currently planning to construct a pedestrian bridge a few metres downstream from the existing structure. A contract is being finalised, and construction is expected to commence soon.”

Sisilana said she could not comment on claims made by previous councillors.

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