Is this Nelson Mandela Bay’s most dangerous road?

The long stretch of the R75 is peppered with potholes, broken traffic lights, street lights that are out of order, pedestrians running across the road, frequent accidents, dangerous crossings and broken side barriers.

The road been the site of 166 motor vehicle accidents in which close to 2,000 people suffered injuries between April 2024 and the end of May 2025, according to data released by the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

Declared a national road in 2012, the R75 falls under the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral).

It serves as the primary arterial road for Algoa Park, Zwide, Zinyoka (Govan Mbeki), Veeplaas, Missionvale, New Brighton, KwaDwesi, KwaDwesi Extension, KwaMagxaki, Joe Slovo and Despatch – acting as the public transport link between both ends, and runs to Kariega.

In 2017, work, scheduled for completion in 2019, was intended to implement road safety measures and the rehabilitation of 13km of the road and was to create work for about 37 local small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

This two-year project should have been completed in May 2019. Among the project’s goals was to improve pedestrian facilities.

A fatal accident on the R75 this past weekend. (Photo: Supplied)

When the project began, the R75 carried about 6,100-7,100 vehicles northbound and 5,500-5,900 southbound daily. More than 500 trucks used the road each day — a number that has soared with the manganese export boom in Gqeberha. An estimated 4,500 pedestrians, including 2,000 children, cross the R75 daily.

The latest data released by the municipality show that the busy R75 has become a deathtrap:

• In the past year, 166 accidents were recorded on the road up to Kariega;


• 26 people died in motor vehicle accidents;


• Nine pedestrians were killed;


• 489 people sustained serious injuries in accidents;


• 578 people sustained minor injuries in accidents;


• 344 pedestrians were injured in accidents; and


• Six vehicles overturned and there were three head-on collisions.

One of the metro’s longest-serving councillors, Johnny Arendse, was killed in a head-on collision on this road at the end of April.

Retief Odendaal, DA spokesperson for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape Legislature — and the party’s mayoral candidate for the 2026 local elections — has long campaigned to improve the R75.

Read more: The horrific state of Nelson Mandela Bay’s R75 route — vandalised, dark and dangerous

He has now turned to Sanral head Reginald Demana and Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy for assistance.

“I am once again compelled to call upon your urgent intervention from a national level. The statistics provided lay bare the daily and ongoing risk to life presented by the current state of the R75 road. Without tangible and decisive action, the situation will only worsen,” Odendaal wrote.

He also asked the Sanral head for urgent intervention, at least to get traffic lights to work.

Read more: NMB metro, businesses fix traffic light after two years of chaos

“The ongoing and escalating danger posed by the R75 is, in large part, attributable to the persistent lack of functional traffic lights, inadequate street lighting, and the absence of effective road safety measures. Despite repeated efforts by myself and various stakeholders to raise these concerns with your office, the problems associated with the R75 remain unaddressed.

“I therefore write to you again with the strongest possible urgency to request that Sanral take immediate and proactive steps to ensure the safety of all motorists making use of this vital stretch of roadway. This includes, but is not limited to, the repair and maintenance of traffic lights, restoration of street lighting, and the implementation of comprehensive traffic calming and safety infrastructure.

“The current state of inaction is unacceptable in the face of the daily risk to life,” Odendaal’s letter said.

Sanral call

In September last year, Sanral called for “greater collaboration from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and other stakeholders to restore the R75 road to acceptable safety standards”.

“Sanral has experienced challenges since the appointment of the routine road maintenance contractor for national roads within the metro, who has had only intermittent site access and has been unable to perform the maintenance required to improve road safety along portions of the network, including the R75. The contractor was prevented from carrying out its duties by the actions of individuals and groups claiming to be from adjacent municipal wards who demanded to participate in the project,” Mbulelo Peterson, Sanral’s manager for the Southern Region said at the time.

The condition of the middle island on the R75 in Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape. (Photo: Supplied)

He said vandalism and theft of infrastructure along the route had made the “replacement rate” for equipment unsustainable.

During Creecy’s visit to Nelson Mandela Bay in April, Sanral officials said that an intelligent transport system being piloted on the R75 would also assist in monitoring vandalism on the R75 and N2 national roads in Gqeberha, as well as to respond to safety-related issues.

They also raised concerns that the impact of bad driving should not be negated when referring to the dangers on the road.

Peterson said during that visit that the first phase of the project was expected to be completed by June 2025.

At the same event, Sanral’s Danfred Adams said that as part of efforts to address community safety concerns, Sanral was in discussion with the municipality and was “considering” monitoring some of the identified traffic signals from the Intelligent Transport Management Centre, which would include 24/7 CCTV surveillance, infrared and thermal technology, tamper and proximity alarms, and work with public law enforcement and private security to respond to suspicious activities in Nelson Mandela Bay.

“In Nelson Mandela Bay, we will install CCTV cameras along the N2, R75 and R335 national roads. The R75 and Mati Road intersection was also identified as a pilot project to implement and test the intelligent transport system security and vandalism solution by monitoring and responding to theft and vandalism of the traffic signal infrastructure,” Adams said at the time. DM

You tell us: Is the R75 the most dangerous road in Nelson Mandela Bay or are there others? Email Estelle Ellis at [email protected]