The DA in Emalahleni will write to the MEC of Community Safety, Security and Liaison, Vusi Shongwe to urgently assess the municipality’s Transport and Licensing division and consider deploying more personnel.
In 2020 the municipality sent 20 aspiring traffic officers for training at the Mpumalanga Traffic College. However, this training was later deemed null after it emerged that ANC officials allegedly handpicked their close associates and relatives for this training.
According to reports, training expenditure was to the tune of R2 million, which has since been regarded as wasteful as none of the trainees are employed by the municipality. Despite this flawed project, none of the ANC officials implicated have been held accountable.
Statistics have shown that the population of Emalahleni is rapidly increasing, and vehicles on the road are also on the rise. Meanwhile, the DA has been informed that the municipality lacks personnel to cover the whole jurisdiction of Emalahleni. Traffic congestion at various main roads during peak hours remains unattended.
Even more concerning, the municipality has an old, broken and insufficient fleet. Therefore, the municipality is unable to carry out traffic by-laws enforcement. This has led to a sharp rise in lawlessness on our roads.
In its previous annual report, the municipality listed sick leave bookings from personnel as a challenge. This is another indication that they are operating on skeleton staff and they are not able to cover all daily operations.
The municipality’s reluctance in dealing with this matter might see them being unable to carry out their objectives to provide visible patrol within its jurisdiction and to render 24 hours & 7-days service delivery to the community.
With this in mind, it is important for the department to intervene and ensure that the municipality’s traffic unit promotes road safety and enforces by-laws.
We will not allow disorder on our roads because of the ANC’s misguided decisions. Residents of this municipality deserve better services. We will continue holding the municipality accountable and ensure that the traffic department enforces traffic legislation.