City of Mbombela needs more traffic officers
The City of Mbombela Local Municipality needs 492 traffic officers to run at full capacity, but at the moment has 33 and a further 22 will join them at the end of the year
MBOMBELA – The City of Mbombela Local Municipality (CMLM) is too broke to appoint crucial staff. There are currently 33 traffic officers employed for the entire municipal area, which includes Mbombela, Barberton, White River and Hazyview.
According to the city’s 2018/19 IDP review plan, the 2016 community survey showed it had a population of 695 913 residents. It noted that it was the most populous and one of the fastest-growing local municipalities in the Ehlanzeni District.
Yet, CMLM expects to only employ another 22 traffic officers by the end of the calendar year. Traffic chief, Eddie Prollius said during the public Nelspruit Community Policing Forum (CPF) meeting held at Emnotweni on Tuesday that it needed 492 officers to run at full capacity.
The CPF had called in municipal officials to address various community concerns, among them the availability of traffic officials at key areas.
“It all boils down to rands and cents,” Prollius said. “The traffic department is not there to generate revenue, but to enforce the law.”
He said there was not enough revenue to hire more officials.
“As a result we are treating the symptoms and managing the problems, but management is fully aware of the situation.” The newly opened Mpumalanga Traffic Training College has a learning cycle intake of 160 students. Of these 22 are earmarked for the City of Mbombela.
Prollius added that the amalgamation of Mbombela and Umjindi local municipalities after last year’s election, contributed to the strain in the department.
“The fire department is facing the same problem,” he stated. If council can find the money to appoint more officers this will, according to Prollius, be a welcomed addition.
The EFF’s chief whip in council, Lucky Shongwe said it has opposed the amalgamation since the start and intended to take the municipality to court over what it called its failure. “This is not happening to just one department and we want to turn it around because it is not working,” he said.
“We are currently looking to our provincial leadership to see where it can help us legally.” Spokesman for the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison (DCSSL), Joseph Mabuza said, “Municipalities simply make requests to have their traffic officers trained, it is up to them as to how many they can have trained and whether they employ them permanently.
The department only facilitates the training, it does not deal with the municipalities and their specific needs.” Municipal spokesman, Joseph Ngala did not respond to the newspaper’s queries at the time of going to press.
