Q&A with Eastern Cape transport MEC Xolile Nqatha on road safety

Why aren’t you enforcing road safety laws more rigorously?

The biggest problem is not our inability to enforce the laws. Most of these accidents are a result of driver behaviour.

Surely this begs the question why there isn’t round-the-clock enforcement of these laws?

There are challenges in terms of the demands of the Labour Relations Act where employees would insist on their rights around these matters.

Are you saying you cannot enforce traffic safety round the clock?

The issue we’re grappling with is to achieve the 24/7 shift. This is a problem because of fiscal challenges, because it means we must pay overtime.

Does this mean that even on high-risk roads there is no law enforcement at all during large parts of the night?

No, on those critical roads we’re using a shift system.

So you do have round-the-clock enforcement on high risk roads?

Yes, we do have round-the-clock patrols.

What about your labour relations and fiscal problems?

The labour problems are where employees make certain demands which are not affordable.

Does this limit the amount of round-the-clock law enforcement you can do?

Yes, it does.

So late at night and in the early hours of the morning there is no law enforcement?

I wouldn’t say “no” because in the urban areas there would be visibility.

What about the high risk routes, the N2 and R61?

There are 24-hour patrols on those routes.

So how do you explain the more than 60 fatalities on these two routes in December?

People are not observing the rules of the road.

Because they break these rules with impunity until there’s a fatal crash?

Some of these crashes happen after a roadblock.

Are they checked for drunk driving at road blocks?

Yes, we arrested more than 500 who were driving under the influence.

So why, according to your department, is such a large percentage of fatal accidents caused by drunk drivers?

And by speeding and overtaking over a barrier line.

Because there’s no enforcement?

We do enforcement, but it is not enough. We’ll be the first to admit that.

How many average-speed-over-distance cameras do you have on high-risk roads?

We don’t have them on these roads yet. That’s another great weakness. We’re determined to attend to it.

Because these are roads you should be prioritising, aren’t they?

I fully agree. They’ve been included in a list of 20 priority risk roads by the national minister.

What are you doing about overloading?

We have issued about 439,000 fines, including for overloading.

So how was a taxi carrying 18 passengers able to travel 400km through the Eastern Cape without being stopped once, until it had a head-on collision with a truck and 17 of them died?

You can’t stop every vehicle, even at a roadblock.

How often are taxi and truck drivers tested for competence?

They’re tested every time they renew permits and licences.

How many are bought?

We’re trying to root out corruption at our testing stations but there are still serious gaps.