ELECTION 2026 | Blind residents demand safer roads and pedestrian crossings in Hammanskraal

Health-e News ELECTION 2026 | Blind residents demand safer roads and pedestrian crossings in Hammanskraal For 47-year-old Jonas Molefe Motau, who is blind, getting to work means navigating rocky roads, potholes and a busy road without a pedestrian crossing in Stinkwater, Hammanskraal.

Motau walks more than four kilometres to and from his workplace at the Benjamin Moloise Community Centre, using a white cane to find his way around obstacles.

“The roads are uneven, rocky and full of holes, the only time municipality scrape them is when there is a funeral on that street, other than that, they are not conducive for someone who can’t see like me,” he says.

Motau took Health-e News along his daily route to demonstrate the difficulties he faces.

Crossing a busy road Motau’s biggest challenge is crossing Molefe Makinta Highway, a main metropolitan road in the City of Tshwane, joining the M21 Highway that connects Ga-Rankuwa with Hammanskraal via Mabopane and Soshanguve.

There is no pedestrian crossing along the busy road near the community centre, making it especially challenging to cross for people with visual impairments and other disabilities.

“My biggest challenge is crossing Molefe Makinta freeway to my workplace”, Motau says.

“There is no pedestrian crossing, yet there is an institution for the blind people on the other side of the road.” Motau says he relies on the sound of approaching vehicles when nobody is available to help him cross.

“If there is no one to assist me to cross, I listen to the drones produced by cars.

But the latest car models have less sound and at times I would just hear the hooter signaling that I am dicing with death.

I am bound to run for my life to heed the call,” he says.

Pedestrian safety concerns previously documented Concerns about pedestrian safety along Molefe Makinta Highway are not new.

In 2024, the Road Ethics Project and Hammanskraal United Commuters Voice conducted pedestrian safety assessments at two intersections in Gauteng, including one along the Molefe Makinta Highway where Motau crosses daily.

According to the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, approximately 1,200 pedestrians used each intersection during the morning peak hour between 7am and 8am, including a large number of school children.