Extreme weather wreaking havoc on transport infrastructure: Creecy

Transport minister Barbara Creecy has expressed concern about the impact of climate change on South Africa's transport infrastructure, warning extreme weather conditions are causing severe damage and require long-term solutions.

“There is no doubt extreme weather conditions and climate change are wreaking havoc with transport infrastructure,” said Creecy during a visit to the Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein.

“The situation in KwaZulu-Natal is a moving target because the heavy summer rainfall continues. I would not be in a position to give you figures [now], but I have asked the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan infrastructure in the Presidency to do a desktop study of all climate-resilient strategies across transport entities,” she said.

KwaZulu-Natal experienced significant damage due to floods, thunderstorms and strong wind from February 16 to 28, prompting the National Disaster Management Centre to declare a state of disaster.

The storms caused an estimated R3.1bn damage and claimed 22 lives.

Creecy said it was necessary to “climate-proof” the country’s roads networks.

“What we recognise is transport infrastructure is going to be increasingly hammered by extreme weather events [in future] and we need to ensure we are not just repairing roads but taking steps to prevent recurring damage. This is a work in progress.”

Responsibility for South Africa’s roads infrastructure is shared between the national department, provincial departments and municipalities.

The roads branch in her department had been instructed to tighten monitoring of the conditional grants for roads infrastructure. “We have to make sure there's a clear programme [to repair roads] and that [it] is being effectively implemented using the hundreds of millions of rand we transfer to provinces every year.

“Municipalities receive the municipal infrastructure grant and 17% of that grant is supposed to be spent on roads maintenance. My concern is in many instances municipalities are not using these funds properly. We are going to have to tighten our oversight.”

According to 2024/2025 festive season road fatality statistics, 1,502 people died in 1,234 fatal crashes, with six provinces — KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Northern Cape and North West — recording increases in fatalities compared with the previous year.

The Eastern Cape, KZN and Free State experienced the highest increases in road deaths, with 70, 54 and 21 more fatalities, respectively.

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