A Limpopo family with the assistance of community members used a tractor to cross the river as they transport the coffin carrying the deceased to enable them to proceed with the burial.
Sane village in the Makhado local municipality, outside Louis Trichardt, has been cut off from the rest of the country after heavy rain washed off the makeshift bridge.
A local man, Simon Ratshilumela, who died when paramedics could not take him to hospital as a result of inaccessibility in the village was laid to rest on Saturday.
Family spokesperson Nditsheni Ratshilumela says it was difficult for them to deal with the situation.
“It was too difficult to deal with a situation like this one. We managed to make things happen. We need a lot of things more especially a bridge even roads. They must not put empty promises. They are supposed to fulfill their promise because is long I think is 20-years now when we are crying about this situation of Mufundudi river. We cry a lot. Please government help us it is very difficult to use a tractor for such a situation like this when we are having a funeral.”
Meanwhile, the work of rebuilding the makeshift bridge is under way. It’s being rebuilt by community members with the assistance of the Makhado local municipality.
The municipality says a contractor to build a proper bridge in the village will be handed over to the site on the first of next month.
