The Transport Education & Training Authority (TETA), supported by production company Blackbrain Pictures, launched its festive season road safety campaign called Phepha #SeeTomorrow at the busy Wanderers Taxi Rank in Johannesburg yesterday.
Campaign Phepha is an isiZulu word that can loosely translate to stay safe, which aims to do exactly that - to encourage safe driving during the festive season that is usually marred by a lot of road fatalities due to busy roads.
TETA CEO Ms Maphefo Anno-Frempong, who addressed the crowds, said this campaign forms part of their three targeted programmes for Road Safety per year, namely Education, Encouragement & Awareness and lastly Advocacy.
“When you turn these campaigns into an annual programme that runs throughout the year, the chances of them having impact are higher. Which is why in TETA, we don't really do it only in the festive season, we do it throughout the year. We believe education is preventative, but education can also address hotspots and certain behaviours that resulted in an incident. So it can be preventative, but it can also be an intervention,” she said.
“There will be diverse activations, on top of the social media activations we are already running where a variety of role players have been adopted to speak about the road safety message.” Of these role players are Dawn Thandeka King, Hamilton Dlamini, Mduduzi Mabaso, Zikhona Bali and Vele Manenje from DiepCity.
“We want to encourage our fellow South Africans to be responsible on the roads. We are not discouraging people from enjoying the festivities of the year end. Rather, we want to encourage them to make some changes to their behaviour on the roads, so that they can arrive at their destinations safely.”
“Simple changes like pedestrians wearing bright clothing at night, drinking water regularly or remembering to stop every two hours during a long-distance trip, can be life saving.” concluded the CEO.
Blackbrain’s creative director Mandla N, who was also took part in the activation alongside DiepCity actors Lebohang Mpyana, who portrays Khelina and the legendary Hamilton Dlamini, said their involvement as creatives is an integral part in spreading the message far and wide.
“Blackbrain has always been part of such campaigns, from the initial campaigns that we did which is Asifikeni (let’s arrive) with the Department of Community Safety. This is just another extension with TETA. This time of year is a big year for us and seeing that we work with a lot of performers from all over the country - so it's always important to reiterate the message. When they go home, we need them back on set - including our artists. We need them.
“Our involvement (as artists) is extremely important because these are faces that people can relate to, they know them and if they are the ones delivering the message, people resonate better unlike a certain minister who cannot connect with the people. The message can only be driven clearer when it's peer to peer,” said Mandla N.
When asked if the message is being heard, he said as long as there is work done it will have an impact one way or another.
“The little that we do can count towards something because the truth is, it can never be enough. We just hope this is a path into the right direction, with the many road fatalities, but it can never be enough,” he said.