President Jacob Zuma‚ who once infamously mocked Malawi's national roads‚ plans to attend the official opening of a new road in Durban at the weekend.

Dumisani Makhaye Drive (Main Road 577) is in Clermont.

"The completion of the R1.3 billion road infrastructure project makes it the biggest road infrastructure development in the country in five years and epitomises government’s service delivery excellence‚" the presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.

For the first time‚ Zuma's office said‚ the road will connect the communities of Newlands‚ KwaMashu‚ Inanda‚ KwaDabeka‚ Clermont and Pinetown.

"Significantly‚ the road will also be a new‚ alternative route to the King Shaka International Airport for traffic coming from the Pietermaritzburg and Pinetown areas‚ which will now ease traffic congestion on the N2/N3 interchange.

"... It spans the uMngeni River and provides a strategic link between Duffs Road in KwaMashu to Dinkelman in New Germany. It cuts off 16 kilometres for traffic using N3 to connect to N2‚ "and will help eradicate the legacy of colonialism and apartheid-based spatial planning."

The road is named after Dumisani Makhaye‚ who served in various capacities including as MEC in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Council‚ the presidency statement said.

In 2013‚ Zuma got into hot water for comments seen as anti-African‚ when he was reported as saying: "We thank all citizens who have registered for the e-Tolls so that we can continue to improve roads and boost economic growth in Gauteng. Gauteng must develop. It can’t stand in one place. It can’t be. It can’t be like Rustenburg . . . We can’t think like Africans in Africa generally. We are in Johannesburg. This is Johannesburg. It is not some national road in Malawi. No."