Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE Tsoaing Bridge collapsed following torrential rains on Boxing Day last year leaving thousands of villagers stranded. The bridge connects four constituencies in the district of Mafeteng, Maseru and Mohale’s Hoek.
But a year after it was damaged, the bridge remains unfixed with the Roads Directorate that is in charge of fixing road infrastructures saying it does not have the funds to carry out the repairs.
Roads Directorate public relations manager, Nozesolo Mpopo, said former Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro launched a campaign called Phau Manyetse to rebuild all bridges that were damaged under the Disaster Management Authority (DMA).
She said the Tsoaing Bridge was part of the bridges that were to be rebuilt under the campaign. “The money to deal with the affected bridges was going to come through the DMA,” Mpopo said.
Mpopo said the construction work will begin as soon as they have the funds. She said they will need between M40 million to M50 million to fix the bridge.
Mpopo said this at a time when heavy rains have begun pounding Lesotho again with the Lesotho Meteorological Service forecasting that the downpours will continue until March next year.
There are reports of rivers overflowing and threatening to wash away other bridges in some parts of the country. The Tsoaing Bridge connects people from four constituencies of Matelile, ’Maliepetsane, Mpharane and Makhaleng.
“The design of the bridge is complete but we don’t have funds,” Mpopo said. Villagers are now struggling to cross the river. This bridge buckled under the strain of heavy rains in December last year.
Cars ferrying people from Mafeteng town and Maseru city are unable to cross over. They have to offload passengers so that they can cross on foot and get other cars on the other side of the bridge.
There are groups of young men and boys at the bridge who help the passengers with their luggage to the other side of the bridge. They use wheelbarrows to carry goods across the river-bed.
Those who do not have wheelbarrows carry the goodies on their shoulders. The place is busy. “Christmas is fast approaching and we are going to make lots of money,” a young man pushing a wheelbarrow says.
He says Basotho working in South Africa are set to come back home for the holidays adding that they expect their business to thrive as a result. A taxi driver from Matelile, Bokang Sehlabo, said business is not good.
“We have to buy petrol from these young boys who sell it at fairly high prices,” Sehlabo says. He says it was better for them to go to filling stations to fill up their cars instead of buying fuel from the street vendors.
He says they have been running their businesses at a loss because they have to wait at the bridge for the taxis to offload passengers from both Mafeteng and Maseru. It consumes a lot of time for both the passengers and taxi operators.
People who come from the villages of Ribaneng and Mpharane sometimes opt to go through Mohale’s Hoek when they want to go to Maseru, a route that is more costly in terms of fuel use.
Apart from that, the taxi operators have to increase the taxi fare for the passengers because they use a longer route. For example, people from Matelile Ha-Sekhaupane normally pay M80 to come to Maseru but now they pay M110 because they have to take a longer route.
Thuso Tumane, 50, a businessman from Matelile Ha-Lesoma, says the higher transport costs have whittled down his profits. Tumane is running a village grocery shop.
“I am just sticking to this business because I have been doing it for years,” Tumane says.
“If I could have other means of survival I could leave this project because it is difficult now.
” Tumane says after buying stock in Maseru or Mafeteng he takes it in a taxi and when he arrives at the bridge, he has to offload his stock.
He says the young men at the bridge also charge him to take his parcels to the other side of the river to take another taxi which also charges him. The Matelile MP, Maimane Maphathe, says he informed former Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro about the collapsed bridge.
Majoro visited the place with a delegation of some ministers to observe the situation on the ground. Majoro said the collapsed bridge would be categorised under the Disaster Management Authority (DMA), which falls under the Prime Minister’s Office.
But Majoro left office without having rebuilt the bridge. Maphathe said he is about to set a fresh appointment with the new Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Limpho Tau, about the bridge.
“I want to take the matter to the Prime Minister’s Office before meeting the Ministry of Public Works,” Maphathe said.
Maphathe is worried that “more damage is likely to happen when it keeps on raining like this”. “The remaining part of the bridge could fall off at any time,” he said.
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