Two weeks of horror on the A1
Tumelo Mouwane | Friday March 10, 2017 14:57
More than two weeks ago, the effects of Cyclone Dineo were felt through the South East district leaving a trail of devastating effects on communities. Ramotswa, the district capital, was shut off after its main access road was flooded over, while between Otse and Lobatse, the bridge over Nnywane River broke down.
The damage forced motorists and commuters to use the Mogobane-Ranaka route, a heavily potholed diversion where the burst in vehicle density resulted in several fatal accidents.
Passengers from Gaborone to Lobatse had to endure the more than four-hour detour as the buses performed U-turns after Otse, before returning down the A1 highway to turn at the Mogobane turn-off.
Those travelling from Otse to Gaborone found scant transport available as they usually rely on the buses from Lobatse.
Bus drivers from Lobatse using the long detour were generally reluctant to turn back to Otse from the Mogobane turn-off with no guaranteed pick-ups waiting in Otse.
A week ago I had to make an urgent trip from Lobatse to Gaborone. I took a bus from Lobatse at 1100hrs hoping I would be able to make it to a 1200hrs appointment.
I must say the trip was terrible, being compelled to go to Kanye first. Reaching Gaborone was a total strain for most of the passengers.
The road between Ntlhantlhe and Otse police college was totally bad, potholes of all sizes compelled the bus to travel at a snail’s pace. We arrived in Gaborone at 2.30pm, having spent four and half hours instead of the usual 45 minutes.
When the situation worsened some public bus operators who operate along the Gaborone-Lobatse route downed tools. Passengers queued in both towns’ bus stations hoping to find Good Samaritans to help them reach their destinations.
Police on the other hand fined those suspected to be involved in transport piracy. This worsened the situation and meant that travellers between the towns were trapped, literally.
On Monday, good news came in, a Bailey bridge was opened except for heavy vehicles including public buses. Lobatse and Gaborone are linked by buses in terms of transport, no other light public transport vehicles have been authorised to offer public transport between the two places.
As it stands, this means hundreds of workers and students who used to rely on buses travelling between the two towns will switch to inadequate quantity of smaller vehicles authorised to operate between Ramotswa and Lobatse.
For one John Molefhe, a public bus driver in Lobatse, the temporary bridge will not solve their problem but rather the situation will be not as worse as in the alternative route.
'The bridge could have been constructed at least a week after the incident. They took the whole time, but we appreciate their efforts. At least we are no longer going to use the Mogobane road, which is in a bad state. If they can allow us to connect because buses will not be allowed to pass, that would relief the situation because passengers have been decrying the situation,' he said.
One daily user of the road who runs a business in Ramotswa, Omphile Kabomo said the temporary bridge will help since they have been spending more money on fuel in the alternative route.
'This Kanye-Mogobane route has cost us a lot of money. The route was long and it was prone to accidents. At least now things will go back to normal,' she said.
Roads and transport department station in Lobatse have however made efforts to try to normalise the situation. The station manager, Kebaabetswe Keaketswe lamented the inconvenience. He said they are working around the clock to normalise the situation.
'We must admit that it has been a tough two weeks for motorists to reach Gaborone from Lobatse and vice versa. We are working around the clock to try and normalise the situation.
We will engage other stakeholders to tackle the situation. We want to make an arrangement where buses will connect by the bridge to help ease movement.
Forty-five-seater buses and less will be allowed to pass. Buses more than that weight wont be allowed, hence other buses from the other end of the road will connect the journey,' he said.
He further said there will be no space left for motorists who will take advantage and pirate.'We will be on the road, in partnership with other stakeholders and we will take action against those who look to take advantage of the situation by pirating. These are the same vehicles that cause accidents,' he said.