Frustrated motorists are calling for urgent intervention as traffic lights at the intersection of Dr Enos Mabuza and Johanna drives have been non-operational for more than a month.

Despite being one of the city’s busiest routes, residents claim the City of Mbombela (CoM) has shown “less than satisfactory” action in resolving this recurring issue. Motorists say they reported the issue to both the municipality and local ward councillor.

One resident, Anton de Beer, said it is like déjà vu, as these lights rarely function for very long, even after repairs.

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“This is a high-traffic area and navigating it without working traffic lights is a daily nightmare. We reported it months ago, but as usual, we are still waiting,” he said.

Michelle Moolman, another resident, said criminals will soon take advantage of the situation to hijack cars, adding that accidents are also likely to happen.

“We have CoM officials who are using the same road daily. They are aware that the traffic lights are not working, but they do nothing. I personally reported it to the CoM in December and I was told they will attend to it but nothing happened,” she said.

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CoM spokesperson Joseph Ngala acknowledged the long-term outage. “We are going to check with the technical services department so they can attend to it and ensure that it functions again.”

Ngala said motorists should treat the intersection as a four-way stop and exercise extreme caution, especially during peak hours.