Truck driver forks out R20 000 after damaging heritage site

A truck driver was handed a six-month prison sentence by the George Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after he damaged a provincial heritage site.

Prison sentence suspended

The prison sentence will be suspended for five years after the driver paid R20 000 to the Department of Transport and Public Works for the damage.

Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said R20 000 was paid into the department’s account on Thursday.

The 22-year-old driver, Asisipho Maqwazima, hit the corner post of Silver River Bridge in March 2022, causing it to break off and fall into the river below.

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“The accused is reported to have failed to report the incident after the collision,” said Hani.

Heritage site damaged

Hani said Maqwazima was charged after a complaint was laid by the Wildlife Trafficking and Cultural Heritage Section to the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team in George.

“Through preliminary investigation, the owner of the truck was traced and afterwards admitted that one of his drivers had caused the damage to the bridge. This further culminated into a summons being issued to the accused to appear in court.”

Hani said the estimated cost to repair the damage to the bridge was about R50 000.

Silver River Bridge

The Silver River Bridge is a heritage site located on the Old George-Knysna Road between the Western Cape towns of George and Wilderness.

According to George Herald, a sister publication of The Citizen, since the bridge was damaged, several other incidents of trucks getting stuck on the bridge have been reported.

Some trucks would get stuck on the bridge at all hours of the night.

“Damage to the Silver River and Kaaimans River bridges has occurred in the past on a number of occasions, before and after the event in question,” said the former chairperson of the George Heritage Trust, Henry Paine, an architect who provided the Hawks with factual historical information on the bridge.

Paine said the road was not designed to carry large vehicles.

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