Gauteng MEC for Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure, Jacob Mamabolo, has called on religious communities to join the provincial government’s efforts to tackle the scourge of road deaths and taxi violence in the province.
Mamabolo made the remarks during a service at St Paul’s Apostolic Faith Mission in Evaton, Emfuleni Local Municipality, on Sunday.
Mamabolo told congregants that road deaths have reached crisis level.
“Mamabolo honoured the invitation by the church and used the occasion to outline the Department of Roads and Transport’s October Transport Month campaign, which is anchored on making Gauteng a City Region of Smart Mobility,” the provincial department said in a statement.
“My visit to your church today is to plead with you to pray so that we change driver behaviour and also for peace in the taxi industry. It cannot be correct that our roads continue to kill so many people,” said Mamabolo.
As part of the drive, the department is prioritising road safety, decongestion of public roads, depollution and the use of smart technologies to transform the transport sector.
He announced that the department will host a Road Safety Summit with various stakeholders in an effort to find extraordinary measures to curb road deaths.
“As part of making our province a hub for easy movement of people and goods, we need to make our roads safer. We also cannot ignore the unacceptable rates of violence and murder in the taxi industry. The taxi industry is one of the biggest people movers in our province, with close to 70% of our people using this mode of transport,” said Mamabolo.
He also announced that together with the taxi industry, the provincial government will launch a road safety campaign in November. He called for more stakeholders to join hands in making Gauteng’s roads safer.
The department will host a road safety seminar early next month to come up with extraordinary measures to tackle the carnage on the province's roads.
“We will be all over the province and we are asking the church to join this effort. It is only through working together that we can make road safety a reality in our province. These deaths call for extraordinary measures,” Mamabolo said. – SAnews.gov.za
