Despite promises from the City of Mbombela (CoM) that the traffic lights on Dr Enos Mabuza Drive would be repaired last year, nothing has changed.

In early December, COM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, told Lowvelder that they were in the final stages of repairing the traffic lights at the intersection of Dr Enos Mabuza and Johanna drives. He also said the municipal team was on the ground, working around the clock to ensure the traffic and street lights were functioning again.

At the time he said they had engaged the relevant municipal departments to ensure that the traffic lights function properly and confirmed they would be operational soon.

ALSO READ:Traffic lights on Dr Enos Mabuza in Mbombela to be back on soon

Motorists are now concerned with all the schools opening while the traffic lights are out of order, and that that would create even more traffic congestion. They also demanded that the CoM sticks to its promises and repair them post haste.

One of the motorists, Lauren Renaud, said the CoM needed to repair the traffic lights before schools reopen, because those are busy roads and have seen many an accident. She said operational traffic lights would make the school drop-off areas much less stressful and save lives.

Deon Stuurman said he was hoping that the municipality would have repaired the traffic lights by now as it had promised. “Motorists had to suffer during the holiday season and they are going to experience the same problem when the schools reopen. The council is not taking us seriously; for the whole of 2022, the robot was not working, putting our lives in danger,” he said.

ALSO READ: Mbombela motorists up in arms over inoperative traffic lights

Sello Maduna said he knew that the municipality was lying when it promised it would repair the traffic lights soon. “The municipality will keep on promising and do nothing about it. It is about time that people come to the understanding we are being led by people who care about their own pockets, not the lives of the people who put them in power.”

Ngala had not responded to several phone calls and text messages by the time of going to press or this being posted online.