Four decade roads career comes to an end

MANUEL DE SOUSA knows much of KwaZulu-Natal’s bridges, roads and interchanges like the back of his hand.

For the past 41 years, De Sousa – affectionately known as Mannie – has played a pivotal role in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of provincial and national roads.

On 30 November 2016, De Sousa will officially retire from the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) where he has been Operations & Maintenance Manager for the Eastern Region since the establishment of the agency 18 years ago.

Arriving in Durban from Johannesburg as a young man in the early 70s, he studied for a BSc degree in Engineering (Civil) at the then University of Natal, under a bursary granted by the Public Service Commission. He was obliged to work in the public service for three years to repay his bursary and opted to join the then Natal Roads Department in January 1975.

He worked in the design office for bridges before moving to the materials section and finally the construction unit based in Port Shepstone.

As a rookie engineer, he was involved in the construction of the road between St Faiths and Umtentweni, the N2 at Wilson’s Cutting and a new bridge at Southbroom after the existing bridge was washed away during heavy floods. In August 1977, De Sousa was appointed as engineer in charge in Greytown where he spent three-and-half years on road construction.

Then followed a posting to Northdene where he spent seven years. During this period, he worked on construction of the M19 between Quarry Road and Blair Atholl Road; doubling of the M41 between Umhlanga and Phoenix; the widening of the M25 (now known as the KwaMashu Highway) between Duffs Road and Inanda; and upgrading of the M13/Blair Atholl Road interchange.

He also oversaw improvements to the Stapleton Road, Wyebank, GiLlitts and Hillcrest off-ramps on the M13.

Thereafter, for almost a decade until March 1998, De Sousa was the Durban regional engineer for the Natal Roads Department in charge of the maintenance of the national and provincial roads. The Durban region stretched from Tugela River to Harding.

On the operations side of his portfolio, he has been responsible for the four toll contracts: N3 Mariannhill, N2 South Coast and N2 North Coast in KwaZulu-Natal and N1 South in Free State.

De Sousa haS been witness to several technological advancements in toll collection such as Electronic Toll Collection which includes the swiping of credit cards at the plaza or the use of an e‐tag system where the vehicle does not have to stop – the transponder is recognised and the boom will open.

He said despite opposition to tolls from certain quarters, tolling enabled SANRAL to provide roads sooner than the traditional tax‐based revenues which would traditionally fund these roads. Tolling also delivered much-needed infrastructure sooner than later and ensured dedicated funding for maintenance of the road network.

SANRAL’s overload control centres (at Mooi River and soon to open at Eteza) also fell under De Sousa’s operations portfolio. These centres weigh trucks to check for overloading which is seriously damaging the country’s roads. Traffic officers based at the centres prosecute drivers of overloaded trucks and also conduct roadworthiness tests on heavy vehicles.

With regard to road maintenance, De Sousa has held overall responsibility for nine contracts charged with, among other services, grass cutting, repairing damaged guardrails, cleaning drains, repairing potholes, road signs, road markings and street lighting.

Reflecting on his four-decade long career, De Sousa said if given the chance all over again, he would again choose a vocation in roads.

“I have enjoyed my job. I chose not to sit in the office all day and went outdoors to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air while driving my team,” he said.

When he is no longer working full-time, De Sousa hopes to play a few more rounds of golf in between consulting to the industry “to ensure 41 years of knowledge and experience does not go to waste”.

Dumisani Nkabinde will take over from De Sousa as Operations & Maintenance Manager for SANRAL Eastern Region.