"You've Failed Women": SA Man Shares Footage of R25 Ekurhuleni Road at Night, Sparks Safety Outrage

• Ryan Smith filmed dashcam footage along the R25 in Ekurhuleni, exposing streets with broken or missing street lights
• Smith linked the infrastructure neglect to the danger women face at night, calling out years of failed leadership
• South Africans online were unsettled by the footage, with residents sharing their own experiences of crime linked to dark streets

A Kempton Park resident filmed a nighttime drive along the R25, also known as Mori Fontaine Road, and the footage stopped South Africans in their tracks. Ryan Smith posted the dashcam-style video on 21 September 2026, and what it showed was hard to ignore: a major Ekurhuleni road swallowed by near-total darkness, with no functioning street lights in sight.

Smith, who was born and raised in Ekurhuleni, drove the stretch of road and described what residents deal with every night. He described broken and missing street lights, overgrown grass alongside the road, and traffic lights that almost never work. He described those traffic lights as an inside joke in community groups, one that residents have long stopped finding funny.

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Highlight the danger dark roads pose to women

Smith was careful to draw a specific line. He did not claim that broken street lights directly cause gender-based violence, but he argued that the crumbling infrastructure creates the conditions for it. Dark roads mean less visibility, fewer witnesses, and easier cover for crime. For women travelling at night, the pitch-black streets make an already dangerous country feel even more threatening. Smith said in the video:

"To the South African Police Service and the government in power, you have failed your people. You have failed Ekurhuleni. You have failed your women. Not today, not yesterday, but for years."

He pushed back against advice urging women to simply be more careful, pointing out that residents are already doing everything they can. The real obstacle, he argued, is the broken environment their leadership has allowed to develop.

View the TikTok video below:

Mzansi responds to the Ekurhuleni video

Viewers flooded the comments on @cry.baby.ryan's TikTok with their own frustrations:

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@Nishana Ngobe 🇿🇦 wrote:

"Can you wait, Cyril is playing golf ⛳"

@🦩 ukulily 🍓 shared:

"I live in Kempton Park. Used to work in Rosebank and had to travel this road every single day. Started working remotely and now I pretty much refuse to go into the office. I can work remotely and hate leaving the house if I don't need to... It sucks here..."

@Bonny1 added:

"That is everywhere in Ekurhuleni, we complain daily. We had a man stabbed to death in his house because of street lights that weren't working. It brings culprits out"

More Briefly News stories on Ekurhuleni

• Content creator Mpho Makgamathe questioned the perceived silence from women’s advocacy groups after two women were allegedly linked to the Ekurhuleni murders.
• Forensic psychologist Dr Gerard Labuschagne said there is a 75% link between some Kempton Park murder cases but cautioned against calling the suspect a serial killer yet.
• A TikTok spiritual practitioner claimed to have visions connected to the Ekurhuleni murders, including three men, two white cars and the number 15.

Source: Briefly News