HARARE – The South African authorities should consider utilizing their toll plazas for the convenience and safety of motorists, instead of just bleeding exorbitant toll fees from them.

This view was aired by irate foreign motorists who complain that they were charged the full toll fee at the Baobab toll plaza last week, for the dubious "privilege" to travel on lengthy, dangerous and time-consuming detours and were forced onto an almost impassable dirt road, while the N1 was closed-off for several hours, due to yet another serious accident involving heavy trucks on the mountain pass. Five heavy vehicles were involved in a pile-up on the mountain pass, which they are forced to use, even though the road is still under major reconstruction. Cross- border heavy transport is prohibited from using the alternative route via Waterpoort, even though the road was specifically constructed for heavy vehicle transport.

A visiting businessman from Harare, Mr Wouter de Wet, said he was instructed to leave the N1 just north of the tunnels at Wyllie's Poort, while he was on his way to Louis Trichardt. Being a stranger to these parts, he was well on his way to Thohoyandou, when a uniformed official stopped him and indicated a very rough dirt road as the route, which would connect him to the Witvlag Road into town. He was at the time completely lost and would not have been able to negotiate the indicated road, if he had been travelling in an ordinary sedan vehicle. "Surely, with a little effort, the road and traffic authorities could have devised some means of alerting motorists at the toll gate about the closure of the mountain route, as well as advising them on safe alternatives? Being aware of the fact that visitors from the northern side of the border would have had very little joy from the completed stretch of road, before being diverted into the unknown bundu, how on earth could they even consider it to be decent practice to force visitors to pay the full amount of toll fees? I came here to explore investment possibilities. If what I experienced at your Baobab toll gate is indicative of the value system, mood and style of governance prevailing in your part of the continent, I would rather go and look elsewhere – in Zambia or Mozambique for instance."