Roads Clogged as South Africans Head Out for Easter
Every year, Easter traffic transforms South Africa’s busiest highways into slow-moving streams of families, church groups, and holidaymakers. This weekend, the spotlight is on the N3 highway between Johannesburg and Durban, with heavy traffic all the way from Thursday afternoon, peaking between 3pm and 10pm, and again on Friday morning. If you’re heading through Van Reenen’s Pass—yeah, that infamous stretch between KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State—brace yourself: it could see 1,500 vehicles per hour or more, and by the time Monday rolls around, that number might jump to 2,000 as everyone heads back home.
It’s not just Van Reenen’s Pass that will test your patience. Toll plazas like Mooi River and Marianhill are bracing for gridlock. Mooi River expects more than 1,300 vehicles an hour on peak days, while Marianhill could cram in nearly 1,800 vehicles per hour, especially late Thursday.
If you’re traveling the N1 toll towards Polokwane or heading to Moria for the annual Zion Christian Church (ZCC) gathering, traffic is set to be a beast. The Pumlani Toll Plaza is preparing for upwards of 2,000 vehicles per hour on Thursday afternoon, ballooning to a whopping 3,000 vehicles an hour by Monday when all the ZCC pilgrims—backed up by around 500 Putco buses—make their return journey.
Police Presence Steps Up; Drivers Urged to Prepare
Authorities know what’s coming and they’re not taking any chances. Extra patrols and roadblocks will dot high-risk routes, including the N4 through Nelspruit and the N2 at Libode. Officers plan to clamp down on reckless driving, drunk drivers, and maintenance issues—standard procedure every Easter, but with so much traffic, they’re stepping it up a notch.
The South Africa Road Safety Foundation isn’t just worried about congestion. Their key message: most accidents come from driver mistakes, especially drunk driving, so keep your wits about you. That means checking tire pressure, brakes, and lights before you set off. Got a first-aid kit, jumper cables, and water in your car? Good. If not, now is the time to pack them.
- Expect standstill traffic near Van Reenen’s Pass Thursday and Monday
- Pumlani Toll Plaza hit hardest by ZCC pilgrimage crowds on the return leg
- Thursday afternoon the riskiest for Marianhill Toll users
- Authorities will have frequent roadblocks along accident-prone hot spots
With this perfect storm of holidaymakers, church visitors, and regular truckers all sharing the same stretches of road, patience is about to become the top travel accessory. If you can shift your travel times away from those peak hours—even just a few hours earlier or later—you stand a far better chance of a smooth trip. If you can’t, settle in, cue up your best playlist, and drive safe.
Posts Comments
Sonu Kumar April 20, 2025 AT 18:32
I mean, honestly... the N3? Really? It’s not even a highway-it’s a parking lot with aspirations. And don’t get me started on Van Reenen’s Pass... I’ve seen more coherent arguments in a toddler’s tantrum. The infrastructure here is a national embarrassment. Why do we even pretend to care about mobility? We’re just... waiting for the next disaster to happen, aren’t we?
sunil kumar April 21, 2025 AT 00:15
The data presented regarding vehicle throughput at Marianhill and Pumlani Toll Plazas appears to be consistent with historical trends observed during major religious and holiday periods. However, the absence of comparative metrics from prior years-particularly pre-pandemic baselines-limits the analytical utility of this report. One might reasonably infer that the increase in ZCC-related traffic correlates with demographic growth and improved access to public transport, but this remains speculative without longitudinal analysis.
Deepti Chadda April 21, 2025 AT 13:38
This is why we need STRONGER borders and MORE police!!! 🇿🇦🔥 Why are we letting foreigners think we’re weak?? This traffic? It’s because we don’t punish bad drivers enough!! #SouthAfricaStrong
Anjali Sati April 23, 2025 AT 10:07
Everyone panics about traffic. No one panics about the fact that half these people don’t even know how to check their tire pressure. Or that Putco buses are older than most of the drivers. We don’t need more roadblocks. We need fewer people with licenses.
Preeti Bathla April 24, 2025 AT 07:14
You think that’s bad? I drove the N1 last year during Easter and got stuck for 11 HOURS because some idiot in a Toyota Hilux thought it was a race track. And guess what? He was on his phone. 🙄 No one talks about this. No one. Just sit there and suffer. Meanwhile, the government’s spending billions on statues. I’m not even mad. I’m just disappointed.
Aayush ladha April 24, 2025 AT 19:34
Actually, this is all fake. The real traffic jam is in Pretoria because everyone’s trying to avoid the N3. You think they’d let you know that? Nah. They want you to suffer on the N3 so they can say ‘look how bad it is!’ Meanwhile, the N4 is practically empty if you leave at 10am. But no, let’s all follow the herd. Classic.
Rahul Rock April 26, 2025 AT 01:55
There’s something deeply human about this chaos. We’re all moving toward something-family, faith, rest-and yet the system we built to enable that movement becomes the very thing that traps us. Maybe the problem isn’t the roads. Maybe it’s that we’ve forgotten how to move together with patience. We’re not just stuck in traffic. We’re stuck in our own impatience.
Annapurna Bhongir April 27, 2025 AT 06:24
ZCC pilgrims cause the worst jams. Always have. Always will. No point pretending otherwise.
PRATIKHYA SWAIN April 27, 2025 AT 14:24
Drive safe. Pack snacks. Play good music. You got this.
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