Members of the Mitchell’s Plain United Residents’ Association (MURA) and Lentegeur Community Police Forum (CPF) have expressed concern about the escalating number of road accidents in the area and urged the City to take action to curb them.
This comes after a woman was hit by a bakkie on the corner of Eisleben and Morgenster roads last Friday.
Edwina Nefdt, 34, died on the scene. It is alleged that Ms Nefdt had been walking with her daughter to a nearby shop, and was crossing the road when the speeding bakkie knocked her over and drove off.
She had apparently flung her daughter out of the way before she was hit.
Plainsman’s efforts to get further information from Lentegeur police station proved fruitless.
When we contacted communications officer Wynita Kleinsmith, she told us she was on leave and referred the questions to station commander Colonel Herman Seals.
He, however, said he was not in the office but promised to call someone at the station to respond to the email. But we did not receive a response.
Lentegeur CPF chairperson Mark Brooks confirmed the incident and said the baby was safe. He described the incident as “shocking and devastating”.
“That was one of the accidents that left the whole community devastated. Edwina died while she was trying to save her daughter,” he explained.
He believes future incidents could be prevented by the installation of speed humps.
“The City must build more speed humps and road circles so that the motorists can slow down a bit,” he said.
Alex Lawrence, who serves on MURA’s road safety and security committee, added: “We are concerned about the lawlessness on the road and we are intending to have a meeting with the City’s traffic department. There are few traffic officers in the area and we need more of them to patrol,” he said.
