The sight of schoolchildren crossing swelling and perilous rivers in the country’s rural areas is expected to be a thing of the past, thanks to the R3.3 billion budget allocated to build 134 Welisizwe bridges in six provinces.
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala made the announcement during the launch of Welisizwe bridges construction project on Friday.
The Welisizwe bridges project is a government initiative aimed at addressing the backlog of bridges infrastructure in rural and disadvantaged communities.
The bridges will improve communities’ access to health facilities, schools and economic amenities.
The project involves the Public Works and Infrastructure Department, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and provincial Transport Departments.
Zikalala said R1.1 billion will be spent per year in the Eastern Cape – which is the pilot for Welisizwe Bridges Programme, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North West.
The programme targets rural provinces where there is a backlog in the construction of bridges and a threat of life during rainy seasons.
“Welisizwe Bridges not only makes access possible to many communities, but also is labour intensive, creating a number of working opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
“A number of skills like welding, ground work and soil retention are transferred to the workers. Each bridge site has seven SANDF members who oversee all the projects, five artisans and 40 EPWP workers,” Zikalala said.
The launch was held at two construction sites in Port St Johns, Eastern Cape.
Accompanied by the Eastern Cape Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha and Port St Johns Local Municipality Mayor, Nomvuzo Mlombile-Cingo, Zikalala visited the sites of the Sunrise and Ntlenga bridges, which are 50% complete.
“The Department of Defence (SA Army) has committed to providing assistance with regards to construction vehicles, construction machine operators, artisans and the expansion of the Military Temporary Bases where necessary.
“Since the programme is expected to deliver 48 legacy bridges plus 96 bridges initially announced by the President for the 2023/24 financial year, phased construction will catch spot simultaneously at all bridge sites with augmented resources to a total of 100 bridges in all six provinces,” Zikalala explained.
The Welisizwe Rural Bridges Programme was initiated to respond to emergency situations in relation to river-crossings. In 2020, Cabinet supported the Welisizwe Implementation Model. The programme was gazetted in July 2020 as Strategic Integrated Project (SIP) No 25 as fraction of the Infrastructure Development Stimulus Package to boost the economy.
Planned ctheonstruction of bridges in the MTEF 2023/24 -2025/26 is as follows:
- 48 bridges in each of the six provinces, totalling 288 bridges by stay of 2025/2026 financial year.
- Job opportunities in each province in one financial year will be: 64 artisans, 960 EPWP participants, 21 graduates, totalling 1045. A total of 6270 job opportunities will be created per financial year.
- 17280 job opportunities will be created in the MTEF
- 510 training opportunities will be created in the MTEF
– SAnews.gov.za
Ladysmith
Skebenga / Skelm – a crook / gangster [skuh-beng-guh] A Zulu word for gangster.
doughboy
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?