The safety of the province’s residents and visitors will as always receive top priority with law enforcement entities this Easter.
While more than three million Zion Christian Church (ZCC) pilgrims are expected to attend the annual gathering at Moria while another nearly 1 million people are expected to attend the African Francophone Countries’ gathering at Nzhelele. Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) is an international association comprising universities, academic networks and scientific research centres that use the French language all over the world. Traffic officials will be deployed on all major routes in the province where regular road blocks will be conducted to check vehicle and driver fitness.
Kagiso Mootane, Spokesperson on Traffic at the Department of Transport, Safety, Security and Liaison has informed that traffic officials will once again show no mercy to motorists disobeying the laws of the road. “We will not tolerate any misbehaviour on the roads. Officials will be deployed on all major routes and will maintain high visibility throughout the province.”
Provincial Police Spokesperson Ronel Otto confirmed that Police officials will be out in full force, not only on the roads but also within residential areas to give perpetrators minimal space to commit criminal activities. “The Police will conduct operations on the roads as well as urban areas and regular stop-and-search procedures will be followed,” Otto said.
Road maintenance on the N1 between Polokwane and Pretoria was also addressed by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral).
“The national and provincial road network is a safe environment and if drivers stick to the rules of the road and display tolerance and courtesy towards fellow road users, we should be able to cut down on the unacceptably high rate of fatal crashes. The N1 is expected to be in a good condition and travellers will likely not experience major delays caused by road works during the Easter weekend,” Sanral Spokesperson Vusi Mona said in a recent press release.
He added that thousands of visitors to Moria during Easter will enjoy the benefit of the new interchange.
“This is one of the busiest roads in Africa during Easter and the new road section and improved access to the church will contribute to the safety of the journey. We call on road users to obey speed limits and slow down at demarcated areas where temporary construction might take place,” Mona said.
Transport MEC Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana in her Easter message urged traffic officials to show no mercy towards traffic offenders this year.
Heavy traffic flow is expected from this afternoon (Thursday) with continuous congestion until tomorrow (Friday), especially on the R71 towards Moria. By Monday traffic is expected to increase southwards as visitors make their way back home.
Story: RC Myburgh
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