Metro lands in traffic snarl-up

Miffed motorists at traffic-clogged Johannesburg intersections are in for extra irritation today - the city's 702-Outsurance pointsmen have been ordered off the streets.

The six-year-old multimillion-rand pointsmen project, which also benefits Cape Town, came to a temporary halt yesterday, sparking outrage from furious residents.

The Johannesburg metro has decided to put the project out to tender to "regularise" it by February - despite being warned in June that this would have to be done.

The Traffic Freeflow company came up with the idea at a time of severe gridlock in the city, caused by power failures, a sudden increase in vehicle volumes, and construction projects.

The company's managing director, Colleen Bekker, said the 200 pointsmen, who covered a collective average of between 45000km and 48000km a month to marshal traffic at problematic intersections, will be off duty from today so that the municipality can appoint them as peace officers, a process that is expected to be completed by Monday.

The Johannesburg metro police department must assess the pointsmen, and screen them to make sure that they do not have a criminal record.

The process was completed in time in Cape Town, which therefore did not have to suspend the service.

Johannesburg metro police are expected to stand in for the pointsmen at problem intersections .

Outsurance, which sponsors the project, along with more than 30 other companies, said yesterday that the contract to provide the pointsmen service expired in September but had been extended to the end of last month .

Bekker said the city had been warned "on many, many occasions" to regularise the contract before it expired.

"In fact, when the new administration was appointed after the elections, we highlighted, at the end of June, that the contract is coming up for renewal and these issues need to be attended to as a matter of urgency."

Bekker said the response from council officials was that the matter would "be attended to".

Though the metro police did not pay a cent towards the project, metro police spokesman Edna Mamonyane said it had been decided to put the project out to tender because of its high value.

Mamonyane said, however, that services will not be affected, and that pointsmen will be on duty while they are being screened.

"Over the years, businesses asked why we were giving this job to one company and saying that it looks like this project is being monopolised," she said.

The Dial Direct Pothole Brigade, which for months has filled about 35000 potholes in Johannesburg, yesterday announced that it had entered into a new partnership with the Ekurhuleni metro after the Joburg Roads Agency put the project out for tender.

RESPONSE

The decision to remove the pointsmen sparked anger on Talk Radio 702 and social networks.

On Twitter, Nons33 said the cancellation was "backdoor nationalisation". DevinLester said the government was "getting its dirty inefficient hands involved".

A tweet by Lisasol, similar to comments on radio, read: "Someone at the City of Joburg wants to appoint their father/ uncle/brother/cousin to replace Outsurance-702 pointsmen. That is all."