The City of Cape Town’s Transport Directorate has completed the bridge that will link Nomatse Street and Ndlulamthi Street to connect two communities from Kuyasa in Khayelitsha. Prior to the bridge being constructed, residents from Makhaza east and west had to use dirt tracks to visit each other. Now the new bridge makes connecting and socialising possible in a safe manner.
The project commenced in 2020 and was scheduled to take 11 months to complete. Unfortunately, the project was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and other challenges including violence and hostility from some members of the community, vandalism of contractor machinery, harassment, intimidation and assault on the contract workers. These acts caused the contractor at the time to terminate his contract with the City.
As a result, a new contract had to be awarded and now the work is finally complete.
‘Welcome Zenzile is the true epitome of resilience and speaks to our commitment to delivering services to our communities, despite challenges and delays. The safety and well-being of our residents comes first and nothing will stop us from achieving our target goals. Although it may have taken longer to complete this project, I am happy that we have managed to complete it before the busiest time of the year. Thus, our residents will be able to move around and visit each other in a safe manner,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Councillor Rob Quintas.
‘I want to warn all those behind the disruptions and delays of our projects, who are making unnecessary demands and intimidating our contractors, that we will not tolerate such behaviour. Our residents deserve the services and the City will not be deterred from improving lives and living conditions,’ said Councillor Quintas.