The Eastern Cape MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Ghishma Barry, officially opened the Makana Junior Traffic Training Centre and the newly-built pavements along the township's main taxi route at Noluthando Hall on Monday.
The Eastern Cape MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Ghishma Barry, officially opened the Makana Junior Traffic Training Centre and the newly-built pavements along the township's main taxi route at Noluthando Hall on Monday.
This was part of her Transport Month programme for this year. The event was attended by district officials from the Transport department, Makana councillors and officials and members of the community.
Barry told the audience that the purpose of having pavements was to keep pedestrians off the roads and out of the way of traffic. “The objective of this project is to move pedestrians off the roads so that pedestrian fatalities and incidents can be minimised, as well as creating employment and transfer skills to the community of Joza township through following the Extended Public Works Programme principles to ensure maximum beneficiation of the community from the project,” explained Barry.
“Having being faced with the challenge of not having sidewalks on the MR486 that connects Joza to Grahamstown for pedestrians, the area compelled the community of Joza to walk in the roadway with the associated traffic, thus bringing about pedestrian/vehicle conflicts resulting to pedestrian fatalities."
She says a total of 80 people were employed to work on the project over a period of 13 months and were given Construction Education and Training Authority-accredited training on kerb laying, base layer preparation and premix surfacing, landscaping and block paving. One of the employees in the project, Thandiswa Tinise expressed her gratitude to the transport department.
“They have equipped us with skills, we got training and as I speak now there's nothing that a man can do that I can't. I can mix cement, I can lay a kerb and those sid walks came out of my hands,” said Tinise to applause from the packed hall.
Barry also launched the Junior Traffic Training Centre which is situated behind Noluthando Hall. She said that the investment will go a long way to shape the youth's attitude on the roads. She appealed to the community to safeguard the infrastructure.
“Take ownership of the infrastructure that the government puts in place in order to ensure that other generations also benefit, let us continue to work together to ensure quality transport systems,” she said. Welcoming the guests, Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana said the purpose of the centre was to train the youth, so that they understand the rules of the road. “This is part of reducing road fatalities,” he said.
He asked community members not to vandalise the facility. “People must stop vandalising the public property because this is for the benefit of the community, this is your asset you must ensure that you safeguard it,” he concluded.
“The [transport]minister [Sbu Ndebele] announced that every month traffic officers will be stopping one million vehicles, our target as the Eastern Cape is 85 000 vehicles per month," explained Barry. "Which means that each traffic officer whether a municipal officer or provincial, must in an eight-hour shift stop and check 15 vehicles per day,” she said.
