Road opened after chief’s intervention at barricade

RESIDENTS of Shawela village in Giyani have suspended the barricading of a road that links Giyani and Phalaborwa after an agreement between the protesters and the department of public works, roads and infrastructure was reached last week.

This comes after days of rioting by residents who demanded that speed bumps be erected to curb speeding.

Hosi Aaron Mahumani, Mahumani Tribal Authority traditional leader and chief magistrate by profession, intervened and stopped the villagers from erecting barricades that had rendered the road unusable for a week.

A delegation led by Mahumani was later formed to speak to public works, roads and infrastructure MEC Jerry Ndou last Monday to request that the speed bumps be erected.

According to Mahumani, the road was extremely dangerous and many people were dying every year on this stretch of road.

“Since 2010 there have been many pedestrians who died on the road, not to mention our livestock that is killed every day,” he said.

Public works, roads and infrastructure spokesperson, Callies Matlala, confirmed the meeting had taken place.

“We agreed to send our team to assess whether speed bumps are necessary on the road or not. If they’re necessary, we will erect them without delay,” he said.

Asked what the criteria was to ascertain this, Matlala said it was whether the road posed a danger to the community.

“We prioritise safety on our roads, so wherever there’s a risk of danger we make sure that we try to minimise that risk by implementation of road safety measures on that particular road,” he explained.

Mahumani confirmed that the assessment had already started. “We’re very happy with the outcome of the meeting with the MEC.”