Madam,

Sheer frustration and growing anger wells deep within me over a situation that has now become both unacceptable and reckless. Since last Monday, the traffic lights at the Fincorp four-way stop, one of the busiest intersections in Mbabane, have been completely dead. Not faulty, not flickering, not sporadically functioning, but fully dead. Nonetheless, despite this glaring danger at a junction used by hundreds, if not thousands, of vehicles every single day, the silence from those responsible is deafening.

It is as though the people tasked with ensuring basic municipal services sit around thinking of ways to frustrate taxpayers. How else can one explain the absolute lack of urgency, communication or even acknowledgement? This is not some obscure gravel road or a quiet suburban corner. This is a major and strategic traffic artery. Any competent authority should have treated its breakdown as an emergency from the very first hour.

Instead, what do we see? A complete shrug of responsibility. The Municipal Council of Mbabane, which never misses an opportunity to issue a press release or social media post about cosmetic improvements or new ‘innovative’ projects, has gone absolutely quiet.

Not even a brief notice to warn motorists, no temporary signage, no alternative traffic management plan, nothing. How does a municipality that just recently boasted about installing over 50 cameras across the city pretend not to see an entire set of dead traffic lights at one of its busiest junctions? Clearly, those cameras were never about public safety, road order or easing congestion; because if they were, someone in authority would have reacted by now.

It feels as though there is a deliberate disconnect between public relations and public service. The enthusiasm the municipality displays when announcing shiny, photogenic projects evaporates the moment real, unglamorous work is required, work that taxpayers actually rely on for their daily safety and productivity. It is a slap in the face to every motorist who pays for licences, road taxes and penalties, but receives chaos in return.

The silence from the Royal Eswatini Police Service is equally baffling.

In any functional society, when traffic lights fail at a major intersection, traffic officers are immediately deployed to direct vehicles and reduce the risk of accidents. That should be standard procedure. Instead, we have seen no such intervention. Are police officers not using the same intersection? Do they not witness the near-miss collisions, the confusion, the impatience and the unnecessary risk? Their inaction suggests either negligence or indifference, neither of which is comforting for a nation that depends on them for order.

A traffic officer should have been stationed there from the very first day the lights went off. Every second those lights remain dead without human control increases the likelihood of a preventable accident.

Are we waiting for a fatality before anyone lifts a finger? Must blood be spilled before our authorities remember that part of their mandate is to safeguard lives?

It is insulting to the public that a problem so visible, so disruptive and so dangerous can be allowed to persist for days while those responsible remain invisible. People are late for work. Businesses lose productivity. Children are endangered on school runs. Tempers flare. The intersection becomes a daily gamble and for what reason? A lack of accountability? Poor planning? Sheer incompetence?

We are constantly told to be patient, to ‘understand challenges’, to accept excuses. When a simple, essential service like traffic control collapses, there is no excuse. There is only failure, and that failure sits squarely on the shoulders of the municipal leadership and the police.

I urge the municipality to stop hiding behind silence and address this situation immediately. Repair the lights. Deploy officers. Communicate with the public. Above all, treat taxpayers with the respect they deserve.

Enough is enough.

Yours in anger,

Since last Monday, the traffic lights at the Fincorp four-way stop, one of the busiest intersections in Mbabane, have been completely dead. Not faulty, not flickering, not sporadically functioning, but fully dead.