Hellen Zille questions Johannesburg’s priorities after arrest of man at broken traffic light

Democratic Alliance’s Hellen Zille took to social media to express how appalled she was after reading an article from TimesLive about how a 32-year-old informal traffic director was arrested for directing traffic at a faulty traffic light in Johannesburg.

“Instead of fixing the traffic lights,” said Zille, “the City of Johannesburg sends its Metro Police to arrest someone doing their best to manage the chaos created by government failure.

“Then I read the article. According to the report, Metro Police observed the man switching off the traffic lights before taking control of the intersection and soliciting donations from motorists.

“I didn’t even know a passer-by could switch off a traffic light. So, I contacted a DA colleague in the City of Johannesburg to ask how that’s possible.”

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Zille said the colleague explained that vandalising the control boxes at intersections has become routine.

“Once tampered with,” Zille continued, “these boxes allow individuals to manipulate traffic signals, and some people exploit this by directing traffic in exchange for tips.

“There’s clearly a lot I still have to learn about Johannesburg. I called a colleague in the City of Cape Town to ask whether the same thing happens there. He said yes, but when it started, they took steps to embed the control boxes in concrete beneath the ground.

“This clever fix, however, has a downside. It also makes it harder for city technicians to access the boxes when they do need to do repairs.”

Ward 94 councillor David Foley, who has been pushing for the issue of traffic lights to be resolved in his ward, shares the same sentiments as Zille. He said that, often, the meter boxes are not really secured. He said he believes in a softer approach that will resolve the problem in a broader context in the long run. “For instance, instead of arresting the man, ask them if he is aware of the implications of what he is doing. Find out if they have grants, because I doubt what they are making equates to that amount. Then educate them about respecting the city’s infrastructure before anything drastic. It does not really solve the problem if they are uninformed.”

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Zille added that she is fascinated to know what percentage of Johannesburg’s infrastructure budget is spent on repairing vandalised installations, and how long it takes before those repairs are undone by fresh vandalism. “Fixing a city, under these conditions, is a whole new level of complexity. In fact, an entire shadow economy exists around the destruction of public property. It’s well known that so-called ‘tenderpreneurs’, often in cahoots with municipal employees, deliberately sabotage water infrastructure so that municipalities are forced to procure water tankers, tenders that allegedly go to the very people responsible for the damage. The variations are endless.”

JMPD said its officers were en-route to their afternoon point duty on July 8 when they observed the individual switching off traffic lights at the intersection of Albertina Sisulu Road and 8th Street in Kensington. “Officers immediately intervened, removing the individual from the intersection. When questioned, the suspect said he needed money.”

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The 32-year-old man was charged with tampering with municipal infrastructure and impersonating a traffic officer.
The city’s Nthatisi Modingoane was reached out to for comment, which will be published when it becomes available

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