Forty-five minutes! That is how long it takes me to navigate through traffic to reach our offices every morning.

Forty-five minutes is how long it takes to travel 11km every day!

I realise my little rant and foot stomping is not unique, and somewhere in a corner is someone slurping on a steaming cup of coffee, saying: “That’s nothing.”

As a journalist, I know our traffic woes are wholly due to the lack of maintenance and, frankly, lack of interest.

I have made countless media enquiries to the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) about non-functioning traffic lights, deteriorating road surfaces, as well as ever-expanding potholes, and have received the same comment served of a cracked plastic spoon drenched in the gravy that was cooked up four years ago – “due to budgetary constraints, the matter cannot be addressed at this stage.”

With the formation of ‘Rondebult Road se Gat,’ traffic from one of Boksburg’s busiest arterial routes has been diverted through the CBD.

Add to that, yet another sinkhole is threatening to swallow parts of Snake Road. Again, there is a whole lot of traffic using only three roads leading to the N12.

While traffic lights’ signals dim and vanish into nothingness and road surfaces crumble under the pressure, the CoE and Gauteng Provincial Government’s Department of Roads and Transport are pulling at each other’s hair, shifting blame on who will take responsibility for the near bottomless pits that are devouring two of our major roads.

In the case of Snake and Rondebult roads, both are provincial roads, and therefore the onus rests with the provincial government to open its wallet and pay for the repairs – easy enough, one would think.

However, they seem to have maxed out their credit cards, demanding that the CoE stop whining and pay their share.

But with an outstanding debt of more than R3bn owed to Eskom alone, the metro is twiddling its thumbs, casting its eyes to the heavens, hoping that if they ignore the stares, the problem will go away.

While the powers that be continue to kick sand and stagnant water in each other’s eyes, my buddy in the white Polo and I are still stuck at a non-functioning traffic light.

Casting looks of matched irritation, we position our cars as close to the opposite curbs as possible to make way for the wailing EMPD vehicle, speeding, snaking, and squeezing past the throngs of stranded vehicles.

Hallelujah, surely the saints are marching on to direct traffic.

Horns from every corner of the intersection erupt into a joyous psalm as the knights in white, yellow and blue approach, their lights beckoning weak, tired and weary motorists into their iridescence – only to cross through the intersection without pause, their siren muted as they escape the wait with only the idle of engines to offer any comfort.

The cavalry is nothing more than a Trojan horse saying, to heck with right of way: “We shan’t be stuck in traffic with the rate-paying cretins of our municipality.”

Yes, an 11km commute takes 45 minutes every morning, while more traffic lights stop working, sinkholes swallow our roads, potholes match resident numbers, and law enforcement use their sirens to escape motorist frustration.

Dear CoE executive mayor, city manager, spokesperson, head of roads and transport and commander of the EMPD, I invite you to step out of the comfort of your high-end vehicles, ditch the motorcade and accompany me or any of my fellow road-users on our morning commute through the ten cities that fall under your management.

Be a passenger in my car as I calculate, adjust and reroute my trip, based on increased traffic, another traffic light that is not working, the latest series of potholes that have torn to the surface and the sliver of hope that EMPD officers may be directing traffic instead of dodging it.

We, the citizens of Ekurhuleni, are tired of leaving home earlier just to make it to work on time.

More importantly, we are tired of promises that you are ‘Fixing the Frontlines’— just get the job done.

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