Disgruntled residents from Reeston are up in arms over the bad state of their gravel roads after a delivery truck overturned on Wednesday at the same spot where a young girl was killed last year.
The residents, who have been living in Reeston since 2001, told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that the accident was the third to happen at the same spot.
Last year the Daily Dispatch reported on how seven-year-old Grade 1 pupil Indiphile Hibana from Thembalethu in Reeston, was killed when she was run over by a bakkie. The driver fled the scene and no arrests have been made.
Her mother Thembakazi Hibana witnessed the latest accident which left the driver of the truck slightly injured and the truck badly damaged.
“I was outside when I saw the truck losing control and speeding towards the houses. I screamed and my neighbours rushed out and were also shocked when they saw the truck,” Hibana said.
The residents said they had asked Buffalo City Metro to tar the roads in the area but nothing had been done.
Nokuthula Mdingi, the first to arrive at the accident scene, said: “The driver hit a big tree that was in front of him and we think if that tree was not there that truck would have gone straight into our homes or injured people and children who use the footpath just below the gravel road.
“We need the metro to construct a tarred road here and we need humps for speeding vehicles because our children use this road to go to school.
“And because there are houses below the road we need road and safety rails. We have been asking for them for years but no one pays any attention to our needs,” Mdingi said.
BCM ward councillor Ncumisa Mekane said complaints about the state of the road had been heard by the metro and that re-gravelling was planned.
“The road construction project is in the pipeline. I am not certain as to when the actual process will commence. However, the first phases have already begun. The new demand for the rails is still something that will need to be discussed by the council before anything is done,” Mekane said.
Residents irate over dangerous dirt road
The residents, who have been living in Reeston since 2001, told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that the accident was the third to happen at the same spot.
Last year the Daily Dispatch reported on how seven-year-old Grade 1 pupil Indiphile Hibana from Thembalethu in Reeston, was killed when she was run over by a bakkie. The driver fled the scene and no arrests have been made.
Her mother Thembakazi Hibana witnessed the latest accident which left the driver of the truck slightly injured and the truck badly damaged.
“I was outside when I saw the truck losing control and speeding towards the houses. I screamed and my neighbours rushed out and were also shocked when they saw the truck,” Hibana said.
The residents said they had asked Buffalo City Metro to tar the roads in the area but nothing had been done.
Nokuthula Mdingi, the first to arrive at the accident scene, said: “The driver hit a big tree that was in front of him and we think if that tree was not there that truck would have gone straight into our homes or injured people and children who use the footpath just below the gravel road.
“We need the metro to construct a tarred road here and we need humps for speeding vehicles because our children use this road to go to school.
“And because there are houses below the road we need road and safety rails. We have been asking for them for years but no one pays any attention to our needs,” Mdingi said.
BCM ward councillor Ncumisa Mekane said complaints about the state of the road had been heard by the metro and that re-gravelling was planned.
“The road construction project is in the pipeline. I am not certain as to when the actual process will commence. However, the first phases have already begun. The new demand for the rails is still something that will need to be discussed by the council before anything is done,” Mekane said.
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