Our Viewpoint | Crackdown on lawless drivers

The visible impact of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport’s crackdown on lawlessness is undeniable. For the first time in a long time, there is a sense that someone is watching. Through Operation Shanela and the #NenzaniLaEzweni campaign, law enforcement has stepped decisively onto the roads.

What it has revealed is as alarming as it is unsurprising. Drunk drivers, reckless speedsters and brazen offenders are being exposed daily, with many videos posted on the department’s Facebook page calling out offenders under a firm, no-nonsense banner of zero tolerance. The question many residents are asking is simple: what took so long?

The recent exposure of corruption at the Mkondeni licence testing centre has only reinforced what motorists have long known. The culture of “cooldrink money” and systemic bribery has been an open secret for years. When enforcement is weak and oversight is absent, lawlessness does not just grow — it becomes normalised.

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There is a direct link between visibility and behaviour. When the rules are not enforced, they are eventually ignored. The campaign has, in many ways, lifted the lid on a problem that has been festering beneath the surface for years.

But exposing the problem is only the first step. Sustainable change will require more than a high-impact campaign. It demands consistency, discipline and the political will to maintain this level of enforcement over time.

Anything less risks a relapse into the very culture that has turned roads into ungovernable spaces. The lawlessness and corruption on the roads is a microcosm of a deeper problem — a culture of disregard for rules that has seeped into the fabric of society and, over time, become entrenched. Rooting out this rot will require the rigour of disciplining unruly children who have been left to their own devices for far too long.

Strength to the Department of Transport. It has begun the hard, long-overdue work. The challenge now is to sustain this momentum and continue the difficult task of reshaping a culture of lawlessness that has turned roads into ungovernable death traps.

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