Komatipoort residents petition the presidency concerning truck traffic congestions

The Komatipoort community held a meeting at the Hervormde Kerk on July 13 to discuss the traffic congestion crisis caused by trucks on the N4 towards the border.

The meeting, facilitated by the Komatipoort Business Chamber (KBC), was attended by stakeholders such as the community policing forum, organised farming, Buscor, the Lebombo Taxi Association and the Lebombo Border Dry Port.

ALSO READ: Nkomazi Local Municipality to rehabilitate borrow pits after more drownings

The purpose of the meeting was to find a lasting solution to the aftermath caused by the truck influx to the border, which has caused the town a number of challenges in the past two years. Although the community members unanimously agreed that the efforts by the taxi associations and community marshals to intervene by redirecting truck traffic were highly appreciated and have made things much easier for them in the past few weeks, they raised concerns about some dangers which might still lie ahead.

“No one would have predicted the number of trucks on the N4 to the Lebombo Border Post would be this high by now. It went from a mere 400 trucks a day to a whopping 1 800 over the past two years. This is enormous and any town would take a strain. We have sat in meetings with various key players to ask for an increased number of traffic officers who would have to work around the clock to maintain order with the drivers, but we are yet to see anything happen. We might get to a point where we see some truck drivers fight back in instances where they get beaten up, and who knows what would happen next?” said Jan Engelbrecht of the KBC.

ALSO READ: Taxi marshals help restore order on N4 towards Lebombo Border

The community has started a petition that already has over 3 000 signatures, to be taken to the presidency in a week.

“A number of people have signed the petition and we are calling on the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, to intervene and bring lasting solutions to our problem. The petition gives the presidency until August 15 to make a change. We are at our wits’ end and if nothing is done by the date we have indicated in the memorandum, we would be left with no choice but to go for a demonstration,” said Engelbrecht.

The memorandum states that the community has exhausted every avenue available to them, yet they continue to go unnoticed while suffering the consequences of the congestion at the border.

“We submit this memorandum to you as a desperate plea for intervention, regarding the urgent need for credible, effective and sustainable traffic management on the N4 highway through Nkomazi, and in the immediate surrounds of Komatipoort and the Lebombo Border Post. Current personnel allocations, budgets, and shift strategies and lack of effective law application do not allow for 24-hour traffic management and policing, leading to anarchy and chaos when law enforcement is absent.

“We fear vigilante practices may develop due to the lack of the above. Ironically enough, a few taxi vehicles and dedicated taxi men have attained in a few days what the traffic department, the border post police and uniform branch dismally failed to do. Their unorthodox methods created the ideal environment after which the traffic department and other state organs could merely have taken over their mandate. Despicably, your departments failed.

“Lives may soon be lost. The losses in economic affairs, infrastructure and safety, among others, are solely due to the failure of the relevant department, and eventually, your failure, to do what is necessary.

“We, the petitioners, individually and jointly as organisations, herewith request your urgent intervention in enhancing the traffic management system and policing manpower on the N4 highway, in support of all existing efforts to improve and stabilise the situation. We call upon change before August 15,” reads some parts of the memorandum.