2006-12-05Staff Report 2 "By Surihe Gaomas WINDHOEK Twelve people were arrested for drunken driving at the roadblock mounted at Karibib since the road safety campaign Xupifa Eemwenyo started last Friday. The Deputy Inspector-General of Police Operations, Major-General Tuweefeni Mlukeni, said there would be a strong police presence particularly during the festive season in an effort to curb road accidents. ""We will enforce the law on the road and we will be visible,"" said Mlukeni, adding that the goal is to change people's behaviour on national roads. Besides the 12 who will face the law for drunken driving, the police also confiscated several firearms at the roadblock and fined people with unroadworthy vehicles. With funding from Shell Namibia, the Karibib roadblock will be operating 24 hours as a permanent traffic checkpoint for the heavy flow of traffic streaming to the coast. Mlukeni is of the opinion that, with the sufficient number of police officials at roadblocks and assistance from other major stakeholders in the road safety campaign, they would cope with the high traffic flow to the coast. While accidents are presently said to be relatively low, more people are being caught for driving under the influence of alcohol. ""It all depends on the human behaviour of people and their attitude to make sure that accidents are curbed over this festive season,"" added Mlukeni. Last week, Shell Namibia was among 38 sponsors of Xupifa Eemwenyo that contributed N$220ÃÆ'Æ'ÀÃ...ÃÆ''šÃ‚ 000 for the Karibib Roadblock. The money was earmarked for education materials. This is part of the project's educational campaign, where motorists and passengers alike will be given information brochures and tips on safe driving during the holiday season. Shell is reported to be the third-biggest sponsor to the campaign, after MTC and the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) who donated N$270ÃÆ'Æ'ÀÃ...ÃÆ''šÃ‚ 000 and N$300ÃÆ'Æ'ÀÃ...ÃÆ''šÃ‚ 000 respectively. Speaking at the press briefing last week, Shell Namibia's Country Chairman, Willie Mokgatlhe, said: ""Time has come for us to put more money where the mouth is."" He said the overall goal is to ensure that road-users and passengers are safe on the national roads. Before the 'Xupifa Eemwenyo' Road Safety campaign officially kicked off last Friday, a number of companies pledged financial and material support. The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA), the facilitator of the nationwide road safety campaign, announced that support had exceeded the N$2-million mark." 2006-12-05Staff Report 2
