Kudos for bypassing slack government

I applaud Discovery for the road safety initiative it launched in Alexandra this month in an effort to help the most vulnerable of road users: underage pedestrians on their way to school. The campaign called SEE ME assists learners in being more visible by providing kids from grade one to six with reflective gear and road safety instructions in their own language and reflective stickers for older children to use on their school bags in the event of uniform restrictions.

I have been very outspoken on the subject of educating kids around the dangers of roads and initiatives like these are bound to teach them the right road etiquette for life. But I can’t help but feel betrayed by the government for not doing more and allowing the private sector to step in. I’m just glad that there wasn’t an overfed suit from some local or national legislation photobombing the handover of the reflective gear on the day. As usual, the official would have made it look like he actually came up with the plan reading off some low-budget speech, chomped down his cake and disappeared in a blue light brigade never to be heard of on the subject again which is so often the case.

Speaking of important people, a month ago Minister of Transport Blade Nzimande reacted strongly to the high death toll on our country’s roads over the festive period, expressing surprise at the number of taxis and buses claiming lives. But in all the time that’s passed, there hasn’t been one hint of any initiative by government to potentially try and curb the carnage in any way in future. Easter weekend is a mere two months away and even launching an action plan today is probably too late to properly implement in order to curb any loss of life we can expect over that time.

With the elections hot on the heels of Easter Weekend, it’s not hard to guess where the government’s focus lies in anyway.

Which brings us back to the private sector. Like several other areas in our corrupt country where taxpayers’ money is being used for everything but its intended cause, road safety will probably never get the attention it deserves if companies like Discovery doesn’t reach out to those in need. But a few schools in Alex should only be the beginning and other companies should join the challenge of making our roads safer by protecting the kids. There are still many other areas that also need attention like reckless and drunk driving and complete disregard for the law, but prioritising the innocent little ones is the right place to start.