Western Cape Minister of Mobility and delegation visit the Garden Route to improve Road Safety in the district

For immediate release
13 March 2025

The Western Cape Provincial Government (WCG) MEC of Mobility, Minister Isaac Sileku, and his delegation, on 11 March 2025, met with the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) and local municipal representatives including Executive Mayors, MMCs responsible for Traffic and Law Enforcement, Municipal Managers and Senior Management, as part of the Ministerial Road Safety Roundtable.

Opening the discussions of the session, Executive Mayor of GRDM, Andrew Stroebel, highlighted the significance of the Mobility Department in our everyday daily lives mentioning a few of the many services rendered by the Department, including:

• the processing of driving and learner licences,
• processing of PDPs applications,
• handling of number plate registrations,
• vehicle registrations,
• processing of parking road access for sport and filming applications,
• processing of disabled parking discs,
• processing of driver instructor certificates, to name a few.

The purpose of the roundtable discussions was to provide feedback to the district regarding the road safety programme over the recent festive season.  The discussions also aimed to explore ways for stakeholders to collaborate towards a shared vision and enhance overall road safety initiatives, share localised perspectives and concerns.

The roundtable therefore forms part of the WCG Department’s ongoing efforts to reduce road fatalities and injuries by ensuring safer roads through a coordinated and targeted approach by all traffic and law enforcement agencies.

Minister Sileku stated: “Our work reconfirms that we need to work together” and noted that measures be put in place to restore peace, order and discipline on the roads. Driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, spatial planning etc. were also among the key concerns mentioned by Minister Sileku.

“It is no longer a time for people to disagree and not bring solutions to the table – if you disagree, bring solutions. We want to save lives and for that we need to intensify our initiatives to improve, because as much as accidents happens, it has a social and economic impact”. In addition, Minister Sileku added that “as much as we see a decline which is a step in the right direction, what we ultimately would want to see in the near future is that when we stop 1000 cars, that all 1000 cars comply with the rules of the road”.

Acting Chief Director for Traffic Management, Willie van der Merwe, presented the 2024/2025 festive season statistics and provided a breakdown of provincial and municipal roads, the Garden Route as a district as well as statistics per local municipality in the district, including challenges, concerns and recommendations. Elaborating on the challenges, Van der Merwe emphasised the importance of reporting to ensure better planning; the sharing of resources and collaboration between stakeholders; municipalities not in operation 24/7 during peak periods; poor visibility of traffic officers in certain areas; limited to no integration with provincial traffic centres resulting in a lack of an integrated plan, etc. These were a few of the challenges mentioned by Van der Merwe. He further recommended that Road Safety be incorporated into the Integrated Development Plans of the Municipalities as a priority.

Minister Sikelu stressed the importance of Communication and Awareness as key factors to educate communities in terms of road safety behaviour. He also highlighted cooperation between stakeholders, and said: “Instead of competing with one another, Traffic and Law Enforcement agencies need to focus on the work at hand – to work together for a common purpose and a goal, because if we are not working together, we will continue having these challenges every day,” he emphasised.

Soon after the engagement the delegation conducted a tour to the Municipal Emergency Centre to view the facilities in place for the services rendered by the GRDM Disaster Management Centre.

The event concluded with Executive Mayor of George, Cllr Jackie Von Brandis, sharing words of appreciation to Minister Sileku and his delegation for creating a platform and allowing sound and firm discussions regarding improved service delivery in terms of Road Safety, to the District Municipality for hosting the event and all municipal representatives who attended the engagement on behalf of their respective municipalities.

Feature Image: FLTR: Executive Mayor of GRDM, Andrew Stroebel, MEC of Mobility in the Western Cape, Isaac Sikelu and Acting Head of the Mobility Department, Darryl Jacobs

ENDS