The small village of Lepashe, 173 km west of Francistown has over the years endured its fair share of natural disasters.
Nestled between the two rivers of Matsitama and Lepashe, the Tutume Sub-District village has on many occasions been cut off from the rest of the world whenever the two rivers flood.
With no bridge to bypass either river, residents either had to brave the raging waters to access health and educational facilities, or resign to defeat and wait for the water to subside.
The above scenario will however be a thing of the past according to Lepashe Councillor Ntsima Mctean Jimane.
The councillor who shared his frustration with this publication two years ago (An Island in the bundus, The Voice 22 December 2020) when a tender for the construction of the bridge was pulled down without any explanation is now a happy man.
“The tender has been awarded and construction will begin in a couple days,” he said in an interview this week.
Jimane told The Voice that upon completion of the bridge, communication between his constituents and other villages will improve.
“We’ll be able to access all the main roads without any challenges. This is good particularly for business people and farmers,” he said.
In 2020 when the village experienced some of the heaviest rainfall, most of the farmers were cut off from their livestock for several days.
Tuckshop owners who had travelled to buy stock in Tutume got stuck on the other side of the river for some days until one good samaritan availed his tractor to help desperate residents, which included expectant mothers, the sick and the old who needed medical attention in Tutume.
Jimane maintains that Lepashe River has been a menace to his constituents for many years and the bridge should have been a priority.
“I just hope the project is completed within the stipulated time so life can be easier for a lot of people,” he said.
