National strategy to address road fatalities falls short
The Deputy Minister of Transport, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said the Mpumalanga Government should be concerned because the death toll on its roads is increasing.
The implementation of the National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) faces many challenges in Mpumalanga, despite efforts to reduce the high number of road fatalities on its roads.
During a review of the NRSS, provincial stakeholders had the opportunity to view their concerns about the strategy and assess the effectiveness of the existing road safety strategy.
The implementation of the National Road Safety Strategy faces many challenges in Mpumalanga, despite efforts to reduce the high number of road fatalities on its roads. #WitbankNews #NRSS #strategy
— WitbankNews (@WitbankN) August 2, 2025
Opening the platform for discussion, Mpumalanga Department of Security, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Jackie Macie warned that the traffic situation will worsen if immediate intervention is not taken.
He said 2 200 vehicle accidents are reported daily, and that tallies up to 800 000 reported accidents annually in the country.
Photo > Zita Goldswain, Witbank News.
“Each crash is not a statistic. It is someone’s child, brother, father, a breadwinner,” were Deputy Minister of Transport, Mkhuleko Hlengwa’s opening remarks.
He warned that the province has not moved the needle far enough to reduce fatalities on Mpumalanga roads.
“Therefore, we are tapping into wise counsel, wisdom, inside, and critique to find solutions,” he added.
Hlengwa said the strategy to save lives must be bold and adaptive.
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@witbanknews Deputy Minister Transport, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, says road accident fatalities increased in Mpumalanga at National Road Strategy review #witbank ##emalahleni #witbanknews #mpumalanga #accident ♬ original sound – witbanknews
Statistics paint a bleak picture
- The statistics are staggering; 1.19 million people die on the world’s roads.
- Africa has the highest road traffic death rate of 19 per 100 000 population.
- It is also the leading cause of death for people aged five to 29 years.
- There has been an increase in the number of fatal crashes reported in Mpumalanga.
- The number from 953 in 2023 to 963 in 2024 shows an increase of 0.84%.
- The N4 stretching from Mbombela through to Vosman and the N12 close to Phola were highlighted as the provincial roads prone to fatal accidents.
- Pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists make up over half of all road traffic deaths.
The implementation of the National Road Safety Strategy faces many challenges in Mpumalanga, despite efforts to reduce the high number of road fatalities on its roads. #WitbankNews #NRSS #strategy
— WitbankNews (@WitbankN) August 2, 2025
The projection to decrease road deaths is not in line
Siphamandla Gumbi, Road Accident Fund senior manager and a member of the NRSS task team, said that to meet the objective aligned with the NRSS target to drastically decrease deaths on the roads by 2030, Mpumalanga has to decrease road fatalities by 62 per annum instead of the projected 50 per annum.
While law enforcement initiatives and campaigns are in place, the target has still not been met.
Some of the feedback the task team received was that traffic officials and law enforcement should be on the roads 24/7.
It was also mentioned that more should be done to educate, especially the younger generation, on road safety, and the national prosecuting agency should impose heavier sentences on traffic infringements.
The lack of coordination between national, provincial, and local governments was also raised as an obstacle to aligning the purpose of the NRSS.
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