Byline: Thendo Funyufunyu

Thursday, 06 April 2023

An awareness campaign to minimize road traffic accidents in the upcoming Easter weekend was held on Friday, 31 March 2023 on the R546 road between Evander and eMbalenhle, as well as today 06 April 2023 in Bethal on the N17 road.

The campaign was held under the theme “Road safety our priority” aimed to promote road safety.

Different stakeholder were present during campaign such as Sasol Secunda Securities, SAPA from Evander, Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison ( provincial traffic and Road Safety Education), Department of Home Affairs (immigration), Department of Health from Evander hospital, Eskom and Rotek, Vukanini Taxi Association and Mavcorp.

In the course of the campaign, local and provincial traffic authorities stopped 417 vehicles for inspection on the R546 road, and amongst those inspected vehicles, immigration officers managed to make 9 arrests of foreign drivers who were in possession of expired passports and improper documentation.

When being apprehended, a foreign national stated that he had overstayed his visa in South Africa by more than two months because he was unaware that his passport had expired.

Five (5) foreign nationals from Mozambique, two (2) from Zimbabwe, one (1) from Malawi, and one (1) from Ethiopia were amongst those who were detained because they lacked the necessary documentation to be in South Africa.

The Department of Health managed to distribute over 300 pamphlet that educate and warn motorist of their healthy life and the danger of drinking and driving, the pamphlet also educate about Covid-19, TB, Cancer, Obesity, HIV and other common injuries.

Vukanini Taxi Association managed to stop 31 taxis for inspection, therefore two (2) taxis were found with expired disc and another one with no safety belt.

The member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Service, Cllr Mavis Nsibande, Govan Mbeki Municipal Manger, Mr Elliot Ndabikhona Maseko and senior officials were present during the campaign.

“We targeted R546 to launch our campaign because more accidents are happening in this road, so we want to save lives looking forward to the upcoming Easter holiday, however as the department we say all motorist and pedestrian must follow all the road rules so that they can be safe and arrive alive,” said MMC Cllr Mavis Nsibande.

She further stated that the campaign will continue at Bethal monitoring the N17 road so that more lives can be saved before Good Friday.