Residents of Dikidikini village in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province are still crossing the Mzintlava River inside large blue plastic drums, years after the practice drew national outrage.

The footage is circulating widely on social media again, showing people being floated across the river in a drum, with a broadcast caption describing it as river crossings in a locked drum.

Dikidikini lies in a remote part of the Ntabankulu Local Municipality, but it is closer to Lusikisiki, and the town of Flagstaff sits on the opposite bank. The crossing is essential for villagers travelling to schools, clinics, shops and work. When heavy rain swells the river, young men seal a passenger inside a 200-litre drum and swim or walk it across, one report noting that the drum has no air holes. Residents say they have used the system since the 1990s.

Teachers at a local school have said they tell pupils to stay home when the river is in flood, for fear they could drown.

The practice came to national attention in 2022, when video footage showed Zoliswa Mfanekiso being ferried across the river this way. A Daily Dispatch report in July this year found that little had changed, with Mfanekiso saying promises of a bridge from the municipality and of a pedestrian bridge from soldiers had not been kept. Villagers have also told of people being swept away in the river, some never found.

Plans for a permanent bridge have been slow. The Development Bank of Southern Africa advertised a tender for the bridge in October 2025, but cancelled it on 31 March 2026. The municipality said the bank has since pursued an alternative arrangement with Raubex Construction, with site handover expected in September 2026 and completion of the permanent bridge projected for September 2027.

As an interim measure, the municipality said the bank and Old Mutual would fund a 60-metre modular floating pedestrian walkway, with construction due to start in August and finish in October.

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has previously said the province’s terrain and climate change make bridge-building difficult, adding that even a stream can become a river. A parliamentary committee has also described the sight of people crossing in drums as an embarrassment.

The Ntabankulu municipality has said it accepts the criticism and is working to give residents their bridge.