The city’s traffic lights have a notorious reputation for not working or malfunctioning - causing traffic snarl-ups‚ road rage and damaging the economy.
“For the last few years‚ it’s something that I just could not understand. It used to frustrate me‚ it used make me very angry as to why Johannesburg‚ of all the cities in the world‚ our traffic lights are not working‚” Mashaba told Talk Radio 702 early on Thursday.
He was swamped by questions from residents in the City of Gold about how he planned to tackle filthy pavements‚ taxi drivers flouting the law‚ crime‚ refuse collection and clinics that only remain open during office hours.
But traffic lights are a recurring problem that one resident calling into the show said “disrupts the economic activity of Johannesburg”.
- Mashaba set to announce ‘coalition’ mayoral committee on FridayHerman Mashaba is set to reward the Democratic Alliance's (DA) “coalition partners”. He will populate his mayoral committee by drawing from the ranks of those parties which helped it win Johannesburg on Monday.
“You go into Cape Town‚ you see a world-class city. Traffic lights work under difficult weather conditions‚” said Mashaba.
“You go to Norway‚ you go to New York‚ you go to everywhere. Traffic lights in the city of Johannesburg‚ all along they used to work‚ but all of a sudden in the last few years‚ something is not right.”
Mashaba said he would appoint a new member of the mayoral committee for infrastructure on Friday.
Officials in charge of city infrastructure would be told to consult “our colleagues in Cape Town so that they can give us some notes in terms of how one can handle this particular matter”.
- Citizens out reckless drivers on Roadhog siteWith a KwaZulu-Natal accident claiming two lives this week‚ some South Africans are doing their bit to draw attention to the fact that reckless driving kills.
“I live here in Sandton‚ the economic hub of our city. I work in the city centre of Johannesburg myself. Now‚ when your traffic cannot move because of traffic lights - you know what you’re doing‚ you’re damaging the economy‚” said Mashaba.
He assured residents that “sooner rather than later” the traffic-light problem would be addressed.
Commuters frequently vent their anger and frustration about the city’s traffic lights.
Twitter user Nunu pleaded on Tuesday: “@CityofJoburgZA Please note that the robot at Bramfischer road and Elias Motsoaledi is not working and its chaos.”
The city replied in a post on Thursday:
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 