Latest news with #Madikane
Daily Maverick
10-08-2025
- Daily Maverick
Communities threaten to close R75 as lack of traffic lights claims three lives
Angry people living next to the R75 between Gqeberha and Kariega are threatening action to close the vital road after a further four accidents over the past weekend. Communities living along the R75 have threatened to close the vital route between Kariega and Gqeberha after four accidents, three of them fatal, happened over the weekend at crossings where the robots have not been working for years. 'It has been a terrible two days. Terrible,' Zukile Madikane said. 'Not even an hour ago, there was another accident.' He recounted how one of the political leaders phoned him early on Sunday morning. 'We know they are frustrated too,' he said. 'But can't we just fix the robots? That robot at Perseverance is a solar robot, people don't steal solar,' he said. 'I genuinely want to know if the municipality thinks they can do nothing because those who are dying are black,' he said. The Perseverance robot was put up by the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber's Perseverance Cluster after years of accidents at that crossing. Madikane said that while there were meetings with stakeholders and the community, it was mostly about road safety awareness and their plans to roll out a big campaign in October. He is the founder of Ikhakha le Afrika, an NGO that actively promotes road safety and also conducts daily patrols on the road to help children and the elderly cross safely. 'But nothing is being said about the robots. 'We haven't received any feedback,' he said. 'In the last meeting we had four councillors,' he said. 'But now people want to close the road. I am trying to stop them, but I think one morning we are going to wake up and the road will be closed. The tires will burn,' he said. 'The R75 is a major supply road, we know that, but there is going to come a day when we won't have control any more and the road will burn,' he said. Madikane said one of the fatalities over the past weekend was a well-known shop steward at Volkswagen. 'The people who die in these accidents are people from the community,' he said. Grim statistics In May, the metro released statistics showing that 1,411 people were injured and 35 were killed in accidents on the R75 between Gqeberha and Kariega in 12 months. Apart from the robots at several busy crossings not working, there are also no street lights and no real road safety measures. In September last year, Sanral called for 'greater collaboration from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and other stakeholders to restore the R75 road to acceptable safety standards'. In April, when Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy visited Nelson Mandela Bay, Sanral officials said that an intelligent transport system being piloted on the R75 would also assist in monitoring vandalism on the R75 and the N2 national road in Gqeberha, as well as respond to safety-related issues. This will, however, be operational only by March 2026. However, Sanral has frequently made it clear that keeping the robots working is not its job. In a previous response, the organisation said: 'The operation and maintenance of traffic signals and streetlighting rests with the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. Admittedly, the ongoing occurrences of theft and vandalism of electrical infrastructure along the road networks is a massive challenge across the entire Nelson Mandela Bay. The Democratic Alliance's Gustav Rautenbach said he filed a motion before the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro safety and security committee to ask that urgent attention be given to the R75, but even though he filed it in May, the committee has not since sat, so it hasn't been heard. 'It was postponed on 13 June and again on 24 July. We don't have a new date yet,' he said. 'They are playing with people's lives. I am really bedonnerd [angry] and disappointed about this,' Rautenbach said. His motion states, 'It is noted with great concern that no traffic lights, pedestrian crossing lights or streetlights are working on the R75 between Gqeberha and Kariega. 'Most, if not all of these, are lying broken on the ground for years now,' the motion said. Rautenbach asked the committee to order that the executive director of safety and security in the metro engage with Sanral to find a workable solution to the problem and that all possible steps be taken to get traffic lights working again along this stretch of road. He also called for cooperation between the metro's safety and security and electricity and engineering departments to find a solution to vandalism and the rampant theft of copper cables in the area, including the installation of anti-vandalism boxes for traffic lights and steps taken to fix streetlights.
The Citizen
25-07-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
George building collapse: Engineer found guilty, removed from register
The Engineering Council of South Africa (Ecsa) has cancelled the registration of the engineer involved in the disastrous Neo Victoria building project and removed his name from the Ecsa register. The tragic collapse claimed 34 lives and injured 28 others. According to George Herald, it also imposed the maximum permissible fine on him. Ecsa president TC Madikane said the respondent has until next Sunday to appeal the decision. Madikane spoke at a media briefing in George last Saturday during Public Works Minister Dean MacPherson's visit to the survivors and families impacted by the building collapse. Madikane did not name the engineer, but in media reports following the building collapse on May 6 last year, he was reported to be Atholl Mitchell of the firm Mitchell and Associates in Cape Town. At the time of the collapse, he was under investigation by Ecsa for a complaint laid in 2023. In an earlier complaint in 2019, there was insufficient evidence to support a breach of the Code of Conduct. Ecsa suspended the respondent in June 2024 pending its investigation into the collapse. Based on the findings of the final report concluded earlier, five charges were brought against him for contravening the rules of Ecsa's Code of Conduct and Code of Practice. A hearing was held on May 29 and 30 this year, which the respondent declined to attend. According to Madikane, a plea of not guilty was entered on the engineer's behalf. The verdict was guilty on all charges of violating the following rules in the Code of Conduct: Rule 3.1(a): Failure to discharge duties to employers, clients, associates and the public with due care, skill and diligence; Failure to discharge duties to employers, clients, associates and the public with due care, skill and diligence; Rule 3.1(c): Failure to adhere to professional norms when carrying out work; Failure to adhere to professional norms when carrying out work; Rule 3.2(g): Misrepresentation of academic or professional qualifications or competency; Misrepresentation of academic or professional qualifications or competency; Rule 3.3(a): Failure to give due regard to and prioritise the health, safety and interests of the public; Failure to give due regard to and prioritise the health, safety and interests of the public; Rule 8.1 of the Code of Practice: Failure to comply with relevant legislation, including the Engineering Profession Act 46 of 2000, Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993, National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977, and National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998. Engineer credentialling At the briefing, MacPherson said one of the measures being proposed to prevent similar disasters in future is the introduction of a national credentialling scheme for built environment professionals to 'distinguish the specialised skill sets from the generalists who are already professionally registered'. 'In the immediate, the first will be to address structural engineers working on high-risk buildings. It will no longer be enough to simply be professionally registered. Engineers will need to prove their competence for complex projects, just like pilots or surgeons.' Reports submitted to police The Ecsa report, as well as the recently completed report of the Council for the Built Environment, have been submitted to the police and will form part of the criminal investigation. The only outstanding report on the building collapse is the one from the Employment and Labour Department. MacPherson said he has 'implored' Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth to finalise it and urgently attend to the financial compensation for those injured in the collapse. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. Read original story on
Daily Maverick
08-06-2025
- Daily Maverick
Where are the traffic cops, NPO asks, as communities patrol Nelson Mandela Bay's deadly R75
Communities living along the R75, a national road linking Kariega and Gqeberha, have taken matters into their own hands after two accidents claimed the lives of three pupils earlier this year. The road has become increasingly dangerous due to broken traffic and street lights. 'To us, those who died here are not numbers,' says Zukile Madikane from Ikhakha le Afrika, referring to the casualties along the R75 road in Nelson Mandela Bay. 'They are real human beings. Even until today, I am still searching for someone to help with trauma counselling for a mother. She was the mother of 10-year-old twins and she saw a taxi kill her children.' Three children died on the R75 earlier this year. The long stretch of the R75 is rife with potholes, broken traffic lights, street lights that are out of order, pedestrians running across the road, frequent accidents, dangerous crossings and broken side barriers. According to municipal data, the road has been the site of 166 motor vehicle accidents in which close to 2,000 people were injured between April 2024 and the end of May 2025. Declared a national road in 2012, the R75 falls under the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral). It serves as the primary arterial road for Algoa Park, Zwide, Zinyoka (Govan Mbeki), Veeplaas, Missionvale, New Brighton, KwaDwesi, KwaDwesi Extension, KwaMagxaki, Joe Slovo and Despatch – acting as the public transport link between both ends, and runs to Kariega. Out of desperation, communities living along the road have now organised patrol groups to help children cross safely. There is no safe place for pedestrians to cross the road – the traffic lights are all out of order. Children who need to get to school, however, have no choice. Patrols Madikane said they had now begun patrolling the R75, using posters to warn motorists to slow down. Patrollers also help children to cross the road safely. 'We have been asking for traffic officials to be here in peak hours, but we are told there is no budget. The same people tell us we are breaking the law, but what else can we do?' he said. He said it was his biggest wish that dedicated community patrollers would be paid from the Public Works Programme or even sponsored by a private company to ensure that pedestrians could cross the road safely. 'We look at that working robot at the Perseverance side, but we know the businesses paid for it,' he said. 'Road accidents due to non-functional traffic lights and streetlights claim too many learners' lives,' Madikane said. Twins Khayone and Khangeyone Makonza died in March while crossing the road to Ntyatyambo Primary School. 'A week earlier, 10km away near the Zwide Cemetery, a speeding car hit and killed 11-year-old Renoko Maswanganyi from Cebelihle Lower Primary School in Ezinyoka while on her way to school,' Madikane said. Also in March, an unidentified woman travelling between Zwide and Rholihlahla was run over and killed by a car that did not stop. Information about the car is unavailable as it was dark, Madikane said. Streetlights on this road had been out of order for years, he said. 'The fact that so many traffic lights are not operational for a long period of time in residential areas in the Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality, in particular in the school vicinities, has a great impact,' he said. 'While we are waiting for the municipality to restore the streetlights, traffic lights, and fix road infrastructure, we plead with Mayor Babalwa Lobishe and her council members to show leadership by stopping this carnage. The intermediate intervention we envisage is the deployment of traffic personnel who will be visible in these accident hotspots at least before school starts and after school hours.' Shortage of officers He said that while they had asked for the presence of traffic officials, they were told there was a shortage of officers. Madikane said their community safety patrollers escorted vulnerable people home so they would not be robbed on the R75 at night. 'During the day, some volunteers are deployed to chaperone groups of learners to their respective schools in the morning and afternoon. Ikhaka Le Afrika has volunteers taking care of the safety of learners from Garrett Higher Primary and Ikwezi Lomso High schools. These are the same volunteers that the metro can train and use to man these identified hotspots in the absence of traffic personnel,' he said. Thozamile Jokwana, regional chairman of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, also called for an urgent intervention on the R75. 'Get people to safeguard the learners who cross these dangerous roads if you cannot bring back or fix the broken traffic lights in time,' he said. Sanral Sanral spokesperson Lwando Mahlasela said the operation and maintenance of traffic signals and street lighting rested with the Nelson Mandela Bay metro. 'Admittedly, the ongoing occurrences of theft and vandalism of electrical infrastructure along the road networks is a massive challenge across the entire metro. Although the operation and maintenance of traffic signals and street lighting rests with the metro, Sanral is currently supporting and partnering with the NMBM (Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality) with an alternative approach which will pilot the infrastructure hardening, CCTV surveillance and monitoring, law enforcement activation and armed security response to the traffic signals incidents along the R75,' Mahlasela said. 'The first traffic signal pilot at R75/Mati Road intersection is currently under design development. It is progressing well, and it will be implemented soon after the Transport Management Centre (TMC) becomes operational, which is planned for July 2025. The pilot primarily relies on the real-time surveillance, monitoring and response that the TMC will provide,' he said. 'With reference to the crashes along the R75 recently, Sanral has requested available crash records from NMBM and law enforcement departments and has started with a road safety review to determine the probable causes and contributory factors. Depending on the review, Sanral and relevant role players will then have to consider whether engineering, enforcement and education of (road users) interventions can be considered,' Mahlasela said. He said Sanral had conducted two meetings with local role players. 'As part of the Freeway Management System project, the team has engaged with senior representatives of NMBM Safety and Security, and Energy and Electrical departments, as well as the South African Police Services (SAPS) to present and request input on the theft and vandalism provisions currently being proposed. The first meeting received constructive inputs, which will be incorporated into the final proposals and operating procedures. 'A subsequent site visit took place on Tuesday, 13 May 2025, to inspect some high-risk locations along the R75 Section. The main objective of the meeting was to observe the current operations, risks and to collectively consider options, holistically and immediately, in the medium and long term to address the prevailing challenges which resulted from the theft and vandalism of infrastructure,' Mahlasela said. He said the site visit was attended by most of the relevant local role players, including the SAPS, various NMBM departments, including the traffic and fire departments, the Eastern Cape Department of Transport, Sanral and community-based representatives. 'The key issues were identified on site and solutions proposed including, but not limited to, involvement of the community (traffic wardens), training and awareness campaigns, ongoing targeted traffic law enforcement, reinstatement of traffic signals at three high priority locations and road safety engineering interventions, which include road signage, road markings, traffic calming, and so on. These proposals are currently being considered and formalised, and a way forward with timeframes will be confirmed in a meeting to be scheduled shortly,' Mahlasela said. Madikane said the robots and streetlights had been dysfunctional 'even before the Covid-19 pandemic'. He said they had campaigned for speed bumps on the road, but were told that this wouldn't work because it was an important road for emergency vehicles. Madikane said that since the road now ran through a mainly residential area, the speed limit should be decreased to 60km/h. 'But the least the municipality can do is to send us traffic officers or help us to train the community patrollers,' he said. He said he understood that communities, too, needed awareness campaigns about road safety, adding that they were willing to do that to help address the situation. 'They think they have consulted the communities when they have talked to the councillor, but it is not true. 'Sadly, this road has become all about politicking and campaigning,' he said.
