Tragic death of Joburg mayor Jolidee Matongo could be a lesson for all

There are a couple of elephants in the room when it comes to the story of the tragic death of Joburg mayor Jolidee Matongo, who died in a horrific accident on the Golden Highway in the city in the early hours of Sunday.

Yet again, there are those who point to the road as a “killer highway” because of the high death toll on it.

This implies that, somehow – just like the Moloto Road north of Pretoria – the physical infrastructure is responsible for the carnage, as if it were itself possessed of some demon intelligence.

Roads, generally, do not kill. It is the lawless, negligent and reckless behaviour of the human beings who use them that are responsible for the deaths.

In this case, it appears that the mayor’s BMW X5 was forced to swerve to avoid hitting a pedestrian crossing the road. In the process, the BMW crossed the centre island and hit an oncoming car in the opposite lane.

Those who live and work in the area say pedestrians are a common hazard.

Many of them are drunk, having imbibed at one of the booze outlets which are strung out along both sides of the road. Yet, the behaviour continues, with no apparent attempt at clamping down on it by law enforcement.

The other point for debate in this accident is what role speed played in it. For the consequences of the collision to have been so devastating, even in a modern car, the velocity it was travelling must have been well in excess of the speed limit of 60km/h.

Our government representatives seem to love flying around at high speeds in convoys of expensive vehicles with highly visible blue lights.

This goes counter to basic VIP protection principles, although nobody seems to know this.

Let’s hope we learn something from the tragedy.