Letter: Running the gauntlet

It is with almost disbelief that I have witnessed the lawlessness, chaos and the threat to the lives of the general law abiding public Monday’s through Fridays at the N2 /Shakas Rock off and on ramp.

Driving there in the early mornings is akin to riding funfair Dodgem cars blindfolded – illegal taxi rank with taxis driving illegally in every conceivable direction and using the on/off ramp and bridge as an impromptu taxi rank; illegally parked contractors picking up and dropping off workers; illegal informal vendor stalls located on the pedestrian walkway on the bridge over a national highway which obscure drivers views of on-coming cars and force pedestrians to walk in an already chaotic roadway.

Have the authorities (KwaDukuza local authority, KZN provincial traffic, SAPS and SANRAL) not learnt their lesson from the fatalities that have occurred at this major intersection in recent years? They drive right pass this travesty of justice every working day.

Stop raising puerile jurisdictional excuses – collaborate and put an end to this very real threat to public safety.

What are these authorities and officials waiting for – another taxi full of workers being hit by a train again, a mom and her children on their way to school being killed or badly injured, a worker being picked up or dropped off by brainless drivers of building contractors/sub-contractor vehicles being crushed and run-over or a pedestrian being maimed?

This is in addition to the fact that local law enforcement has shown a singular inability to proactively secure this major traffic node from acts of extreme violence against innocent drivers using the N2 northbound off-ramp when the ever-increasing incidents of civil unrest – illegal barricades, tyre burning, rock throwing etc. occur.

Yes – that violent behaviour when criminal rabble rousers, who do not even pay for electricity, commit acts of extreme violence against those law-abiding members of the public whose taxes are funding their free electricity.

The authorities, via intel, know this civil unrest is going to happen or is about to happen but they proactively do nothing about it – except tell the public afterwards that their overtime hours have been cut.

Almost a joke if it were not so serious. What has been equally amazing to me is the apparent lack of resolve on the part of our community to publicise these risks and for our elected representatives at ward level to tackle this challenge head-on.

Have we just got so tired of poor service delivery by local, provincial and national government departments (in this instance law enforcement) in our area that we have just given up?

Those of you who we elected to public office – stop staring into your gins and do something!

Otherwise you are just a guilty as those public officials ignoring this tragedy. Take heed those of you of ample backsides (and I do not generalize here – there are good hardworking and caring officials, just not enough of them) who are turning a blind eye to your constitutional, municipal and provincial legislative enshrined responsibilities and putting our entire community at risk.

There is something called a class action – look it up – and its respondents are not limited to the institutions themselves but to officials in their personal capacity who are guilty of grossly negligent or criminal neglect of their legislative duties. Quo Vadis

PATRICK RONAN

Shakas Rock