MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Joburg’s Unsafe, High-risk Bridges

Statement by Helen Zille – DA Mayoral Candidate for Johannesburg:

Johannesburg’s motorway bridges are at high-risk, with a massive maintenance and repair backlog.

78% of these bridges are in a state the City of Johannesburg itself calls “Very Poor or Poor.”

Today the DA put up a warning sign on one of these bridges to highlight the deteriorating situation.

The DA’s signage says:

“WARNING: This Bridge is Not Safe”

Today, we also visited the Hercules Bridge, which is the only exit route for a complex with 1000 people living in it.

The City of Johannesburg has awarded a R25 million tender, to a 34 year old man, whose Limpopo based company has been deregistered three times. His “general trading” company claims to be able to fix anything from water leaks to electrical faults.

At the very core of Joburg’s infrastructure and maintenance backlog, lie dodgy deals like this.

Joburg’s turnaround will not start until dodgy deals like this one are stopped in their tracks. That will be our mandate once elected, to clean house.

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Constitution Hill: Great African Steps

One of the most moving features of the site is the Great African Steps, a walkway that runs between the dark, stone walls of the Number Four prison and the transparent glass of the new court. It represents the “bridge” between the old South Africa and the new. At the top of these steps, tucked into one of the four remaining stairwells of the demolished Awaiting Trial Block, burns the Flame of Democracy. Lit by Nelson Mandela in 2011 to mark the 15th anniversary of the Constitution, this perpetual flame serves as a constant reminder that the light of freedom must never again be extinguished in Johannesburg.