WATCH: Municipality takes legal action over Richards Bay truck congestion

IN ongoing attempts to curb truck congestion on the City of uMhlathuze’s roads, the municipality has taken the legal route.

This after the city’s legal team wrote to Transnet as part of a litigation process to rein in the chaos that has frustrated residents for almost two years, and is costing the municipality millions in overtime pay.

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City of uMhlathuze communications manager Bongani Gina confirmed on Wednesday morning that litigation has begun in an attempt to compel the entity to take full responsibility and alleviate pressure on municipal coffers.

The situation escalated on Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning as hundreds of side-tipper trucks queued from Medway Road to the Alton intersection, blocking two of the three westbound lanes on the John Ross highway.

While traffic officials were deployed to manage flow, the municipality revealed last week that the annual allocation earmarked for overtime pay for officers has fully depleted – just four months into the 2023/24 financial year.

See this week’s ZO Weekender for the full story.

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