Update
MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Mayixhale Road, a main arterial route, linking the southern end of Mossel Bay with Voorbaai and Hartenbos via KwaNonqaba, remains closed until further notice.
Residents barricaded and vandalised the road just after the Scholtz Street intersection late on Saturday night.
They created their own makeshift speed humps across Mayixhale Road in an effort to force motorists to slow down. This took place after a child was hit by a vehicle on Mayixhale Street last Friday.
The three-year-old boy was taken to the Mossel Bay Provincial hospital.
According to the spokesperson for the Western Cape Government Health, Nadia Ferreira: "The patient was admitted after he arrived at the hospital's emergency unit. After treatment, he was discharged on Saturday morning."
The public order policing unit was summoned to assist with crowd control after approximately 40 people had gathered late on Saturday night to barricade Mayixhale Street and they started to dig a ditch with pickaxes across the road.
At almost midnight, municipal councillor Anton Dellemijn, municipal manager Advocate Thys Giliomee, the head of municipal law enforcement Henry Williamson and others intervened to reopen the road. The community, however, responded by thwarting all efforts.
For the sake of motorists' safety, law enforcement officers were then forced to close the road to traffic.
The Mossel Bay Advertiser on Monday spoke to residents living close to where the ditch was dug. They insist that they will continue to prevent vehicular traffic using Mayixhale Street unless speed calming measures are installed.
They say they have asked the ward councillor for the area to intervene after earlier fatal accidents on the road.
"All we want is for the municipality to do what we demand," one resident said.
On the other hand the newspaper received comment from other members of the same community who are upset with the conduct of people they refer to as 'inkommers', "a handful of people who are holding the entire community and municipality at ransom".
They expressed their dismay at the willful destruction of infrastructure which has had a direct impact on their livelihood.
"Their conduct has a direct financial impact on people who rely on the road to get to and from work. There are other ways to resolve their concerns."
Read a previous article: Avoid Mayixhale Street in KwaNonqaba
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