On 12 May 2025, community members of Amadiba marched peacefully to deliver a strongly worded memorandum to the South African Road Agency Limited (SANRAL) in Jama, addressing critical issues affecting the Mtentu mega bridge project as part of the broader N2 Wild Coast Toll Highway initiative.
The Amadiba community, expressing deep dissatisfaction with SANRAL’s handling of the project, highlighted severe concerns including financial mismanagement, unfair employment practices, environmental degradation, and lack of transparency.
“The Mtentu mega bridge project is in crisis,” stated the memorandum, demanding immediate action, including an independent audit of MECSA’s financial activities and urgent rectification of employment injustices. Among their demands, the community insists that members of Public Liaison Committees (PLCs) should be elected transparently in local villages rather than appointed from business forums that have conflicts of interest.
The community raised allegations of corruption such as the sale of jobs for up to R10,000 and false proof-of-residence documents, demanding employment prioritization for local residents and reinstatement of 30 local workers unfairly dismissed in August by MECSA.
Significant environmental concerns were also raised, notably SANRAL’s alleged failure to manage environmental impacts such as improper wastewater disposal from construction sites contaminating local water sources and destruction of endemic plants without transparency.
Safety concerns were also a priority, with demands for implementing a 40 km/h speed limit, speed bumps, and dust suppression measures on roads due to frequent accidents, including at least one fatality.
The memorandum also strongly objected to SANRAL’s alleged violation of customary laws and unauthorized leasing of community land, calling for a halt to these practices immediately. Furthermore, the community requested comprehensive disclosures about SANRAL’s contracts and social investment projects that remain undisclosed.
“The whole project has become a project ‘about us without us’. The rich people who SANRAL talk to at their meetings are sacrificing nothing, risking nothing. We, as community members, are putting our livelihoods, our environment, and our children’s future on the line,” the memorandum stated passionately.
Amadiba residents expect SANRAL to respond in writing within two weeks and have demanded that SANRAL representatives appear at community gatherings in Dangeni and Xolobeni Komkhulu within a month for open dialogue and accountability.
