Fihla said the city will not be liable should anything go wrong.
“It is illegal for any untrained or unauthorised person to be controlling and directing traffic. The challenge with having an unauthorised person doing that is if an accident can happen within that intersection, then, unfortunately, the city won’t be liable for that accident and it will be a problem for the motorists,” he told SABC News this week.
Fihla said residents who direct traffic during blackouts will not be arrested but will be removed by officers.
“The only time when the city will be liable for that is when either an authorised person or JMPD officer is controlling traffic or when the JMPD officer actually sees a homeless person controlling traffic and fails to relieve them,” he said.
Tshwane metro police spokesperson Isaac Mahamba told 702 there is a plan to train members of the community to assist in controlling traffic during the blackouts.
He said the funds needed to be allocated for training.
“We are looking into the issue of training members of the community who might be interested but you will understand that there is a challenge of money,” said Mahamba.
“For training to take place, there are funds that need to be allocated and we are looking into that.”
He reiterated that civilians cannot direct traffic without training, saying those who are unqualified should refrain from doing so.
A week of stage 6 load-shedding
Eskom implemented stage 6 load-shedding on Monday, with varying stages of load-shedding expected to be implemented during the week.
“As the generation capacity shortages persist over the next few weeks, load-shedding will continue to be implemented at various stages. Eskom cautions the public that it will still take a few weeks for the power generation system to fully recover to pre-strike levels,” it said.
“Depending on several possibilities — including the workforce fully returning to work to conduct much-needed repairs to equipment — it is anticipated load-shedding will gradually be lowered to stage 2 by next weekend.”
Eskom said it would keep the public informed.
JMPD warns people against directing traffic during load-shedding
Image: TimesLIVE
As stage 6 load-shedding continues, the Johannesburg metro police department (JMPD) has warned civilians against directing traffic during blackouts.
Videos of civilians directing traffic during load-shedding were shared on social media by motorists.
However, JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla warned it is illegal for any untrained or unauthorised person to direct traffic in the absence of traffic officials or during load-shedding.
Fihla said the city will not be liable should anything go wrong.
“It is illegal for any untrained or unauthorised person to be controlling and directing traffic. The challenge with having an unauthorised person doing that is if an accident can happen within that intersection, then, unfortunately, the city won’t be liable for that accident and it will be a problem for the motorists,” he told SABC News this week.
Fihla said residents who direct traffic during blackouts will not be arrested but will be removed by officers.
“The only time when the city will be liable for that is when either an authorised person or JMPD officer is controlling traffic or when the JMPD officer actually sees a homeless person controlling traffic and fails to relieve them,” he said.
Tshwane metro police spokesperson Isaac Mahamba told 702 there is a plan to train members of the community to assist in controlling traffic during the blackouts.
He said the funds needed to be allocated for training.
“We are looking into the issue of training members of the community who might be interested but you will understand that there is a challenge of money,” said Mahamba.
“For training to take place, there are funds that need to be allocated and we are looking into that.”
He reiterated that civilians cannot direct traffic without training, saying those who are unqualified should refrain from doing so.
A week of stage 6 load-shedding
Eskom implemented stage 6 load-shedding on Monday, with varying stages of load-shedding expected to be implemented during the week.
“As the generation capacity shortages persist over the next few weeks, load-shedding will continue to be implemented at various stages. Eskom cautions the public that it will still take a few weeks for the power generation system to fully recover to pre-strike levels,” it said.
“Depending on several possibilities — including the workforce fully returning to work to conduct much-needed repairs to equipment — it is anticipated load-shedding will gradually be lowered to stage 2 by next weekend.”
Eskom said it would keep the public informed.
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