KaNyamazane and Pienaar taxi drivers make a stand for road infrastructure
These taxi operators have threatened not to take the matter lying down until the department delivers on its promises.
Commuters and motorists were left stranded on Thursday morning, January 20, as taxi operators within the City of Mbombela took their fight for better and decent roads within the city to the streets. There were no buses, taxis and vehicles going in and out of the city’s biggest townships, KaNyamazane and Pienaar.
Taxi operators who were later joined by community members, fed up with the appalling state of roads within Mbombela, said they were prepared to fight until the bitter end.
They accused the Mpumalanga Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport of failing to repair the roads. Most major roads within the city were damaged by the recent heavy rainfall and were never attended to by the provincial government or the City of Mbombela. This has left many people fuming, as they claim they are using those roads daily.
One of these taxi operators, Dennis Mkhonto, said the state of the roads in this area is a danger to them and makes it hard for them to work peacefully. “Potholes are everywhere in our area. KaNyamazane, Tekwane and Pienaar have turned into the home of potholes. Bridges are also damaged, some are on the brink of collapse, and yet government is silent on this.
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“This puts all our lives in danger. We are always late because of the congestion on our roads since the Tekwane South Bridge collapsed. We want the department to fix the temporary bridge while they are still busy with the main bridge at Tekwane, because this will lessen the burden of traffic,” he said.
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Bongani Dhlamini, the spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, said a team was assigned to look into the issue.
“The department is fully aware that parts of Mbombela came to a standstill with commuters left stranded as taxi operators blockaded main entry points leading to Mbombela’s city centre, causing disruption. A team has been dispatched by the department to look into the issue to further learn how to address the concerns of disgruntled taxi operators,” he said.
