The City of Joburg hopes its newly established traffic pointsmen unit will help ease congestion in the CBD and surrounding areas.
The Johannesburg Metro Police Department unveiled the new wing in Martindale on Thursday with 120 of the 200 hundred strong team said to be fully trained and ready to hit the ground running.
The metro said the initiative is part of a response to public outcry about untrained and often intoxicated civilians directing traffic at intersections.
“We would have liked to do this much earlier but the process was long because you had HR and everyone else there ensuring that recruitment is done transparently and in line with relevant laws and policies. We have the unit now and we expect them out there where they are needed,” said Community Safety MMC Mcini Tshwaku.
Tshwaku said the pointsmen will be allocated shifts based on City Power’s load shedding schedule.
“We know the busy intersections where it gets really frustrating for motorists and the plan is that deployment be done according to the load shedding schedule so that our team is where they are needed at all times,” said Tshwaku emphasising that the first team will be on the roads first thing on Monday morning.