Mbalula commits to fixing all SA roads

Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula has committed that all roads will be fixed.

He was speaking in Bloemfontein in the Free State during a national festive road safety campaign.

Since the beginning of festive season, there have been many fatalities on Free State roads.

On Friday, seven people burnt to death between Senekal and Marquard during a collision between a minibus taxi and a truck.

Mbalula says municipalities must also play their role in road maintenance.

He says, “No we do road maintenance all the time, I mean our national roads are in perfect shape. We do road maintenance so those roads will be fixed where we got potholes and challenges like that but at local level because transport is concurrent function. You need the municipalities to come to the party in terms of roads and closing potholes and that is what needs to happen.”

Motorists

Motorists travelling through the Free State province have complained about bad roads.

They say the N-5 stretch from Senekal to Bethlehem is one of the most dangerous roads where motorists get tyre bursts.

Traffic volumes have increased as holidaymakers make their way to various destinations.

Holidaymakers say their travels have become more expensive due to bad roads.

One of them  says, “You cannot be driving in roads like these and then you get arrested when our cars are not roadworthy. Who is going arrest who for these roads that are full of potholes. And last night and this morning who is going to pay for my money that I had to fix the tyres. So where do I claim now? So I’m very unhappy about conditions of the road. They must fix these potholes and we are paying toll gate fees I have the slips here.”

VIDEO: Motorists complain about bad roads, full of potholes in the Free State: