UPDATE: N4 near Lebombo Border Post to be opened after gridlock
The traffic congestion near the Lebombo Border Post is expected to ease. This follows a meeting between the protesting truck drivers and authorities.
It appears it was a successful meeting between the protesting truck drivers on the N4 near the Lebombo Border Post, the Border Management Authority, the police and SARS resulting in an agreement to open the road.
Traffic had come to a complete standstill. The road was reportedly blocked off by the protesting truck drivers earlier today, November 17.
Lowvelder was present at the meeting between the various parties and confirmed that the truck drivers have agreed to stop blocking the road.
SEE MORE HERE: WATCH: Trouble explodes on N4 at Lebombo Border Post and traffic is backed up past Hectorspruit
According to the border post port manager, Colonel Obed Maditsi, he had said at the meeting that taxi associations do not have the mandate to patrol trucks. All parties have agreed to a monitoring and evaluation plan from now on.
The drivers shared with the authorities that their two main grievances are that they don’t want the taxi association patrolling the N4, and they want a more efficient system at the border.
Lowvelder has sent media queries to the Border Management Authority (BMA), the Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison (DCSSL) and the Mpumalanga SAPS.
A provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, directed all questions to the DCSSL. Both the BMA and the DCSSL said they would respond to the queries soon.
The Malelane Community Policing Forum’s Mel Preddy said the N4 is accessible to light traffic up to the Tenbosch road (the paved road to Marloth Park’s Gate 2).
“There is a single lane of trucks in the queue from Tenbosch, which extends towards Hectorspruit. This is, however, orderly, and authorities are on scene,” he said.
Komatipoort and Marloth Park therefore remain accessible, as does the Coopersdal road. He said, however, that the border remains inaccessible from the South African side for now.
