Meet Progress, the Northern Regional Manager

Progress Hlahla joined SANRAL’s Northern Region early last year as Regional Manager. Hlahla moved into his new leadership role two years after joining SANRAL’s Southern Region in Port Elizabeth, where he served as Project Manager on three important initiatives, including the N2 construction between Bulembu Airport and the Buffalo River.

Hlahla emphasises effective communication with stakeholders, close consultation with the industry and accelerated transformation.

He acknowledged that this wouldn’t be a simple task, but said it can be achieved through teamwork, coupled with the vast experience and knowledge accumulated by his colleagues in the agency.

“I am very fortunate to be able to count on some of the world’s leading experts. The idea is to create an environment where we can all participate meaningfully to achieve our shared objectives.”

He previously served as the deputy chief engineer for the Gauteng department of roads and transport, as well as project leader for the introduction of the rapid bus system in Polokwane.

Hlahla took the reins at a time when the agency is hard at work advocating transformation in the industry through its Transformation Policy and long-term strategy, Horizon 2030, and believes he fits into the picture perfectly because he shares the same ideals.

These are some of the challenges that excite and motivate him to work with a team that will contribute meaningfully to the delivery of road infrastructure that will benefit the entire region.

On-road services at your service

SANRAL’s Godfrey Makhubela saves terrified Kat on the N1

Kat Stott and Godfrey Makhubela met during a highly tense moment. Kat and her daughter had broken down on the N1 – in the middle lane. She described it as harrowing, because trucks and cars swerved wildly behind her, only realising at the last moment that she couldn’t move her car.

Kat broke down in the middle of the N1 en route to a wedding with her daughter. The car just failed in the middle lane of one of Gauteng’s busy highways. All she could do was pull the handbrake up and put her hazard lights on.

Godfrey, a SANRAL on-road services flatbed driver pitched up in reflective clothing, sent from the national roads agency’s central operations centre in Samrand. He quickly directed traffic away, placed beacons all around Kat’s car, moved their car off the road to the closest e-toll gantry, where there was a wide concrete section to park on,

and personally escorted both mom and daughter to the cab of his truck. “I didn’t want to scare you or hurt you. All I wanted to know was that you were safe,” Godfrey said to Kat after the on-road rescue.

A hugely relieved Kat shared the story on Facebook, thanking Godfrey for his kindness: “I need to shout out praise for a fellow human being today, my hero! Someone who I believe saved me and my daughter from a fate that could have been death or serious injury. A selfless, kind and compassionate human who I cannot classify as anything else but a guardian angel!”

SANRAL’s Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project includes on-road services such as e-toll tow trucks and medics on motorbikes for exactly these sorts of emergencies on the N1. The system attends to 750 incidents on average every month, from fatal crashes to broken down trucks.