Fuel shortage empties roads as Giyani Easter traffic drops
Giyani Easter traffic volumes drop sharply due to nationwide fuel shortage, as mayor impounds over six vehicles for road safety violations.
LIMPOPO – Greater Giyani Municipality Mayor Thandi Zitha led an Easter road safety campaign, focusing on areas expected to experience heavy congestion in and around Giyani.
Overloaded taxis and expired discs lead to impoundments
The operation resulted in the impoundment of more than six vehicles, most of them minibuses, for failing to comply with road safety requirements.
Offences included overloading, expired licence discs, and invalid roadworthiness certificates.
Traffic volumes lower than expected
Despite the heightened enforcement, traffic volumes in Giyani were significantly lower than expected compared to the previous Easter and December holiday periods.
“The current traffic volume is similar to normal month-end peak times,” explained the mayor.
“We thought that by this time the traffic volume would be worse, that is why we came here to try and manage it. However, we are surprised that it is not what we were expecting,” continued the mayor, adding that they had been there since morning, broke off for launch, and came back at 16:00 to find that there had been no change.
The reduced traffic flow has been largely attributed to a nationwide fuel shortage following panic buying triggered by a sharp fuel price increase on April 1.
In Giyani, most fuel stations, apart from the Shell garage, were without fuel.
Prioritise passenger safety, says mayor
During the campaign, the mayor conducted vehicle inspections, checking overloaded vehicles and those with expired discs.
“We managed to stop several taxis that were either overloaded or had expired discs,” she said, urging taxi operators to comply with the road traffic laws.
“We understand that this is a way for drivers to make more money, but it is very risky for passenger safety. If an accident occurs in such a situation, it could result in many deaths,” said the mayor.
She emphasised that the municipality’s intention was not to disrupt the operations of taxi operators, but to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
“We are not fighting taxi operators, but they must follow road traffic safety laws. They must load their taxis according to their standard capacities and not overload them,” she said.
