South African motorists are living in fear amid a spike in violent crime on major roads.
Police blame lack of lighting.
A number of criminals take advantage of motorists by placing spikes to cause accidents, and then steal cars, valuables such as cellphones, and money. Some kidnap victims, then ransack their bank accounts.
According to Gauteng SAPS, roads identified as hot spots, are N4 West in Akasia to Brits; N4 East to Bronkhorstspruit; N1 from Midrand to Carousel Plaza; Ben Schoeman Road from Midrand to Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre; N1 South from Naturena to Vaal River; N17 freeway from Wemmer Pan to Devon; N3 South from Leondale to Heidelberg; N12 Golden Highway to Potchefstroom; R80 Mabopane freeway from Eskia Mphahlele Road to Soshanguve; R59 From Tulisa Park to the Vaal River. Police said some of these roads remain hot spots due to the lack of lighting.
Just last week, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and her VIP protectors fell victims to crime as criminals stole two firearms from the officers, cellphones and cash.
Lerato Moloi, a resident of Leondale in Ekurhuleni, said she is a victim of crime as she uses the N3, which is listed as one of the dangerous roads.
“In June this year, my partner stopped to relieve himself on the side of the road just before the off-ramp, two men brandishing firearms robbed us, took our phones and money,” said Moloi.
Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo told “The Star” that the force relaunched the Highway Patrol Unit to enhance policing and visibility on national and provincial roads.
“However, the lack of lighting on the major roads remains an inhibiting factor to effective road policing,” said Masondo.
Masondo said in 2021, following the relaunch of the Highway Patrol Unit to augment the Flying Squad and K9 Unit, the Gauteng provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela, wrote a letter to the Department of Transport requesting the department to install lights at the identified roads.
“An instruction has been issued for all SAPS marked vehicles deployed at night to conduct blue light patrols to increase visibility,” Masondo said.
The Transport Department said it is concerned. Spokesperson Collen Msibi said the department is addressing this through various programmes aimed at reducing fatalities and improving the safety of road users
“The South African National Roads Agency Limited, an entity of the department, is tasked with the responsibility of the construction and maintenance of certain national roads and thus ensuring that certain parts of the national road network under its care, have proper lighting,” said Msibi.
He further said: “However, there are no immediate plans to extend freeway lighting into low population density areas due to the high risk of vandalism and theft of copper cables that occurs during load shedding. Sanral is looking at solar options that are entering the market as potential solutions in the future. This will allow for the expansion of the freeway lighting outside of the GFIP network.”
This is not only a problem in Gauteng. Yesterday, Mpumalanga police told “The Star” that an alleged robber was shot dead on the N12 from Gauteng to Mpumalanga.
“The suspect was shot after robbing taxi passengers of their belongings. The tracking company cut the fuel supply leading it to a halt. The driver fired some shots. Police found the body of the suspect and two phones next to him,” said Mpumalanga SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala.
He said they have a challenge with hijackings on the N12, N3 and N4.
“Most of the victims would stop by the side of the road in the evening to relieve themselves, then suddenly are attacked, hijacked and their belongings taken. Sometimes they are attacked when providing lift to hitch-hikers,” Mohlala said.
Eskom said they are not responsible for the street lights nor traffic lights, including the maintenance and security of thereof.
“During load shedding, if Eskom or the municipality has the source of electricity supply to these street lights on load-shedding schedule, then they will be impacted for those two hours as per the schedule,” said Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said they are responsible for the street lights across the City of Johannesburg, including on the main roads such as M1, M2, and Eskom-supplied areas, where they do new installations and regular maintenance.
“Just like with most of our infrastructure we have a serious problem of vandalism in our street lights and theft of infrastructure such as fittings, pole covers, copper wires inside the poles, overhead aluminium bundle cable which is used for illegal connections in most informal settlements across the city,” Mangena said.
He said they have another type of vandalism of worrying proportions whereby the lights, including the new ones along Kliprivier Drive, Malibongwe towards Lanseria, Kibler Park-Southgate Road, were mowed down, cut and left on the side of the road, often with nothing stolen. He said they have reported these to the police so that during their patrols and investigations, they pick up this trend and ensure perpetrators are arrested.
“We always replace these lights and repair the bits stolen from them, but we can’t keep up with the rampant vandalism, some of which looks deliberately done by criminals who thrive in dark streets. We fix it today, tomorrow it’s fiddled with again so that the streets remain dark to enable them to rob, hijack and attack the communities,” Mangena said.
The Star