Nomusa Mbhele, fruit vendor

“The section of the road between Industriqwa and Harrismith used to be congested with heavy vehicles, buses and minibus taxis using the two-lane road and the journey on this stretch alone took more than 30 minutes.
“With the improvement of the busy road, it now takes about five minutes to reach Harrismith. What a pleasure.”

Rose Mofokeng, Tupperware sales agent

“The upgrading of the road between Industriqwa and Harrismith has helped to ease the traffic considerably, especially on Friday afternoons and around month end. I travel a lot to take my range of Tupperware products to Harrismith, Ficksburg, Warden and Phuthaditjhaba and the more time I spend on the road means the less time I have for sales.
“I am grateful to SANRAL for spending millions of rands on the upgrading of roads throughout the Free State.”

Thabisa Matiwane, road traffic officer

“As a road traffic officer, I have first-hand knowledge of the inconvenience and hardship that was experienced by motorists and commuters travelling between Harrismith and Industriqwa.
“The congested road also resulted in accidents. But, since this section of the N5 has been widened, there is a smooth flow of traffic even during the morning and afternoon peak hours.”

Themba Radebe, taxi driver

“I used to take great risks and place the lives of my passengers in danger before the road was widened. I used to overtake in the face of incoming traffic so that I could take my passengers to the Tshiame industrial and residential areas as quickly as possible. My passengers used to get very angry if they were late for work because of traffic congestion, although it was not my fault.
With the upgrading of the road, now the half-hour trip takes less than five minutes and my passengers are smiling when they get off my taxi to go to work.”