Mbabane: Minister of Public Works and Transport Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe says his Ministry, in partnership with World Food Programme (WFP) and the Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (SMVAF), is clearing overgrown vegetation along selected road stretches.
Making his festive season road safety message, the legislator urged all road users to travel with caution as they use local road infrastructure during the festive season. Minister Ndwandwe said, “We are already in the festive season and we are going to experience high traffic volumes. As we see a surge in traffic volumes, the probability of road traffic crashes also rises. It is for this reason that we need to take extra caution to prevent road traffic crashes especially those leading to death and serious injuries.”
Minister Ndwandwe added, “The most leading causes of road traffic crashes include the following; Disobeying road traffic rules and regulations; Over speeding; drunk driving; and driving non road-worthy vehicles, to name just a few. To survive on the roads this festive season, let us adhere to the following;
Always ensure that your vehicle is roadworthy;
Plan properly for any trip you intend to take, making sure you rest every two hours of driving or every 200km distance covered.”
The politician also highlighted that public transport vehicles as well as their drivers must possess the requisite documentation authorising them. Pedestrians must always be careful and cross at designated places. Motorbike riders and cyclists must always use helmets. The overloading of vehicles is prohibited and farmers must ensure their animals are kept away from roads and road reserves. Minister Ndwandwe: stated, “The Ministry has commenced fixing pothole riddled roads around the country. The Ministry is also clearing road reserves to ensure visibility is extended.”
During the year the Director of Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Vusi Magagula officially received a Mercedes Benz Sprinter ambulance worth E2.4 million on behalf of Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi from SMVAF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Myeni at the Fund’s Head Office.
This ambulance has the capacity to carry more than one patient at a time and is the second ambulance to be donated this year. This follows the presentation of a Toyota Quantum worth E1.3 million in March.
This was in response to fulfilling the Fund’s proactive Seamless Sincephetelo Strategy 20/24 which entails a new proactive collaborative partnership between the Fund and the Ministry to provide advanced life support to patients in the event of an accident occurrence.
SMVAF CEO David Myeni said the donations were activations of collaborative partnerships signed earlier this year between the Fund and the Emergency Preparedness Response (EPR) through the Health Ministry in ensuring that accident victims received the best customer experience possible in the event of an accident occurrence.
After handing over two advanced life support ambulances worth a combined E3.7 million to EPR in March this year, the MVA CEO David promised four more ambulances to the Ministry of Health “Our aim is to hand over a total of six ambulances to the EPR department by December this year that will be used solely for road crashes. Allow me to highlight that we will not stop with handing over the ambulance units only, but we shall also be responsible for jointly managing the ambulance fleet to ensure that the units are properly utilised including being responsible for fuelling and maintaining the units directly,” he said.
Myeni also stressed that as signatories to the United Nations Decade of Action 2020/30, the Fund had committed to helping government reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries due to road crashed by 50% by 2030.
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