MOTORISTS have called on Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Obert Mpofu to secure the country’s major roads first by erecting a fence to prevent fatal accidents involving animals.
MTHANDAZO NYONI OWN CORRESPONDENT
Many lives have been lost in accidents involving vehicles and animals, especially livestock, which stray onto the country’s unfenced roads.
The highway fence was vandalised by resettled people at the height of the fast-track land reform programme.
While the resettled people used the fence to secure their homesteads, the vandalism left the roads as death traps as animals now freely stray onto the road risking the lives of thousands of passengers every day.
The most prominent victim of animals straying onto the country’s highways this year was former National Railways of Zimbabwe general manager retired air commodore Mike Karakadzai, who tragically died after his vehicle hit a cow in Shangani on the Bulawayo-Gweru road.
Some motorists who spoke to Southern Eye on Friday said Mpofu should wake up and smell the coffee.
They said the issue of highway fencing was overdue and the government was supposed to use the money it got from tollgates to develop road infrastructure.
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They said Mpofu should first fence all major national roads instead of talking about urban tolling as if it is the most urgent development this country needs.
“The issue of highway fencing is long overdue. Our roads are open to anything and that poses a lot of danger to everyone in the country. The government seems to be asleep and they need to wake up.
Roads should be fenced to prevent unnecessary accidents,” a passenger vehicle driver who plies the Bulawayo-Gwanda route said.
“There should be designated crossing points for livestock with clearly marked road signs so that drivers take caution.” Another motorist said it was not safe to drive at night because of stray animals.
“There are many plots, especially if you drive along the Harare road in Ntabazinduna and Mbembesi. There are many stray animals there and if you do not drive cautiously you will find yourself hitting either a cow or a donkey,” the motorist said.
In response, Mpofu said the government had considered the issue of fencing the country’s major roads in its infrastructural rehabilitation project but failed to divulge when the project will kick start.
“The issue of highway fencing is part of our infrastructural rehabilitation project which we want to embark on. It is included in our plans,” Mpofu said.
“However, I would like to appeal to the members of the public to desist from vandalising state property,” Mpofu said.
In June, our sister paper The Standard revealed that the vehicle animal collision was prevalent in the Matabeleland region along the Beitbridge and Masvingo road where there were a lot of stray donkeys, according to the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe official Ernest Muchena.
He said the Beitbridge—Bulawayo road and Bulawayo-Plumtree road were also other typical examples of roads which are risky when driving.
He said the problem was also rampant in Mashonaland along the Harare-Mukumbura road and Harare-Chirundu road.
