On 12 May, a joint march took place in Amadiba to the Mtentu mega bridge site. The community delivered a memorandum with 23 demands to SANRAL at the gates of the construction compound. SANRAL did not attend the event. The memorandum was instead received by a representative from the national Department of Transport.
The R4 billion bridge and counting is part of the huge N2 Wild Coast Toll Highway project, which extends from East London through Pondoland in the Eastern Cape to the KZN border.
SANRAL replied to the memorandum. The reply is dated 30 May 2025. It was, however, only sent to community leaders on the evening of 19 June. Before that, SANRAL’s answer has probably been sent to government departments, to ‘ensure’ that everything in the N2 project is going well.
On 26 June, a community meeting in Jama village near the bridge site discussed SANRAL’s reply. The meeting decided to invite the Eastern Cape MEC of Transport and Security, Mr Xolile Nqatha, the Mayor of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality (WMMLM), Ms Daniswa Mafumbatha and SANRAL’s Regional Manager, Mr Mbulelo Peterson, for 7 July 2025 in Jama.
On 7 July, only Councillors represented the WMMLM. At the end, MEC Nqatha instructed SANRAL and WMMLM to negotiate the demands in the Amadiba Memorandum: First meeting to be held “in 14 days”. The answer to SANRAL shows how heated the discussion was on 7 July. It was heated, but it never broke down.
When the officials left, the meeting mandated the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) to answer SANRAL’s replies. For the technical points, ACC is assisted by a technical team with the ToR “Make a proposal with N2 in the centre of Amadiba and good connections to proper local roads”. Other replies to SANRAL were discussed on 26 May and subsequently presented on 7 July. The debate gave more information, which is included in the written replies to SANRAL.
On 4 June, Amadiba learned that N2 contractors had contaminated the community’s water in Khanyayo. It is bad news for Amadiba. When they answer SANRAL, it is necessary to bring it up strongly. ACC reported the situation to the Green Scorpions and the SA Human Rights Commission. Two weeks later, two officials from Pretoria visited Khanyayo. ACC is now waiting for a report back.
The answer from Amadiba included several attachments to back up the allegations of corruption, and that SANRAL does not want to take responsibility for the situation. We have provided links for those interested.
