The Eastern Cape has the most dangerous stretches of road in the country, with the N2 between Mthatha and Dutywa recorded as the second-deadliest route in South Africa.
This is contained in a report by BusinessTech, on their website.
The road, in the 2023 report, has had 29 crashes with 39 fatalities. Mpumalanga’s R573 Moloto Road has had 33 crashes with 38 fatalities, while Limpopo is in third place with 27 crashes and 30 deaths.
Having heard the report, Mbhashe Local Municipality embarked on an inter-denominational cleansing ceremony on Tuesday, July 23.
Speaking at the event, Mbhashe Executive Mayor, Samkelo Janda, said it was believed that various religions can meet to appease the spirits roaming around that had not been collected by their families
The belief is, he said, that once appeased the number of accidents would decrease.
Janda said a similar ceremony had been held before in Colosa and the number of accidents decreased significantly.
“We don’t really know what the cause of these accidents is, but we are awaiting reports,” said Janda.
He said the municipality has requested SANRAL to do an assessment. He said the road was dangerous whether it rained or not.
Janda said it was not known whether oil leaks made the road slippery.
Dutywa station commander, Colonel Monwabisi Buzwayo, sent condolences to family members who had lost their loved ones on the stretch of road.
He said police formed part of the emergency services that responded to accident scenes.
“As police officers we are also human and we get traumatised when responding to these scenes. It burdens us as we deal with murder, domestic violence, and deaths in accidents,” he said.
Buzwayo said police had a responsibility of carrying the accidents with them long after they had left the scenes. This, he said, as police must testify in court and provide reports to the Road Accident Fund.
He said there were times when they would get to an accident scene and find accident victims with their internal organs showing.
“Imagine a police officer getting to an accident scene, and a woman is crying for help. There is nothing a police officer can do because he is not equipped to deal with such emergencies. The officer waits with the victim for an ambulance, and when the ambulance arrives, the victim dies,” he said, to murmurs from the attendees of the ceremony.
Though not part of the programme, the Department of Transport provincial spokesperson, Unathi Binqose, said the department was aggressive on road safety education.
“We visit schools and taxi ranks, and organise events to teach and remind people of the role they have to play towards their safety on the roads. There’s a need for more visibility of law enforcement, but there’s a greater need for vigilance and awareness among road users to do good, and take responsibility even when no-one is watching,” he said.
