By A Correspondent- In 2000, Cyclone Eline caused severe damage to the Chilonga Bridge in the Lowveld region resulting in its collapse.
This bridge connected the town of Chiredzi to rural communities including Chilonga, Chikombedzi, and Malipati, and the Sango Border Post.
Between early February and early March, Cyclone Eline brought unrestrained fury to Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique, with wind speeds of 120km per hour causing widespread destruction
The storm’s impact on Zimbabwe included 136 fatalities.
According to the Civil Protection Unit (CPU), the cyclone caused extensive damage, including the destruction of 60 000 homes, 15 000 damaged toilets, and damage to 54 clinics and 538 schools.
After the carnage, Chilonga bridge, a low-lying narrow structure which is often submerged in floods or becomes impassable during the rainy season, was constructed, earning a place of infamy among communities.
In 2022, 14 people were swept away while trying to cross the low-level bridge, the CPU says.
At one time, the bridge was sealed off to save lives after a NetOne employee and a female colleague died when their car was washed away from the bridge.
The “killer” bridge is on a road that provides the shortest route to Chiredzi, the commercial capital for thousands of communal farmers in the area who rely on the town for goods and services.
The government has repeatedly promised to reconstruct the Chilonga bridge.
But 20 years later, there is no relief for communities in the northern and southern parts of Chiredzi District.
“We have been greatly inconvenienced by the low-lying bridge due to failure by government to replace and reconstruct a bigger bridge like the original one as we cannot cross to Chiredzi town where we get most of our services,” Tsakilani Mundau, a villager from Chipinda under Chief Chilonga said.
A 23-year delay has plagued the construction of Chilonga bridge and government authorities are yet to deliver on their promises.
Citizens whose lives depend on the bridge are caught in the middle of the failed promises.
Agnes Velemu from Velemu Village said some patients have lost their lives on their way to hospital after failing to cross the bridge during the rainy season.
“Sick villagers seeking critical medical attention have also died after failing to cross the river or due to delays while using the longer route of travelling to Chiredzi via Rutenga,” Velemu said.
Velemu said one must travel over 250 km on an inaccessible road to reach the town that is otherwise just 35km away via a shortcut where one has to contend with the dangerous bridge that is always submerged during the rainy season.
The construction of the Tugwi Mukosi Dam has not helped matters as the Runde River frequently bursts at its banks when the floodgates of Zimbabwe’s biggest inland water reservoir are opened.
In 2017, then Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Joram Gumbo said the government was mobilising $200 billion towards the construction of the new bridge.
In February 2018, Gumbo toured the low-lying bridge and insisted that the central government would finance the building of a new all-weather structure.
Gumbo was later moved to the President’s Office before overseeing the construction of the bridge.
By April 2018, only $3 million was raised but only a paltry $500 000 was paid for initial works at the site.
At the time, authorities said engineers had been deployed to do topographic surveys at the site where the bridge was to be constructed.
The claim was, however, refuted by former Masvingo provincial roads engineer Robert Mukome who said the central government was yet to provide funding for the project.
Mukome has since left the ministry of Transport and is now in the private sector.