Maputo province: Water supply restricted to once a week only in Namaacha town - RM
in file CoM
Unknown people have vandalized electric cables at the Maputo-Katembe Bridge, which was left in darkness last night. And the bridge, inaugurated only a month ago, has street vendors trying to make ends meet.
The vandals stole medium voltage cables that provide lighting to the facility, leaving the Maputo-Katembe bridge between the two shores of the Mozambican capital’s bay without lights for several hours from Monday night until Tuesday morning.
The robbery caused damage worth a million meticais (14,200 euros), but the lights have been restored, Luís Amado, a spokesman for Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), told state broadcaster Radio Moçambique.
Amado complained about the situation, warning of the risks to motorists who had to cross the bridge in complete darkness.
Business at the bridge
A month after the opening of the Maputo-Katembe bridge, street vendors invaded the facility trying to do business.
Fabian Chambule, 28, is one of the vendors in the outskirts of Malanga market, where the bridge empties into the western part of the city. Chambule confirms that some vendors go up to the bridge to do business.
“They think it’s a meeting place for people who come from down the railway line, and they sell things along the bridge, that’s why they’re under the bridge, that’s where they get bread,” he says.
Vendors like Natércia Sitoe used to do business in the stripped-down Nwankakan market.
“In the beginning, they said that not all of them fit in the market, but there was a consensus and we ended up having a place to stay. We are here on the street because there are those who sell vegetables, and us who sell clothes have a place there, but there is no business,” he explains. Juvenildo Ernesto, 23, sells slippers near the bridge.
He says he often has to flee from the municipal police who prohibit the business in the area. “It’s easy to do business here because there’s movement,” he says.
Mobilized police
The municipality of Maputo mobilized municipal police to prevent people from walking or doing business on the bridge. In the first few days after the inauguration, many people went to the bridge to take selfies, others to urinate.
“There was resistance as always, but soon after the inauguration of the bridge, we went into action through the seizure of products. It was a coercive action, but with the work done with the local structures, we were able to relocate the sellers inside the markets of Malanga and Luís Cabral,” said municipal police spokesman Joshua Lai.
Infrastructure manager, Maputo Sul, has also regretted five accidents and the death of one at the bridge.
“Almost all cases are due to speeding. We had a sad case where a car with five occupants overturned and our rescue team was in place and took the victims to the hospital, but the next day, one of the victims died,” said Chairman of the Board of Directors of Maputo Sul, Silva Magaia.
Since the bridge was inaugurated, over 150,000 vehicles have passed through the bridge, mainly tourists who visit Ponta de Ouro, further south of the Maputo Province.
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