The streets of Johannesburg are becoming quite the mission to navigate due to traffic lights that do not work and load-shedding. To make matters worse, some motorists are giving the homeless money to help regulate traffic, making authorities fear that they might deliberately damage traffic lights.

The city’s metro police department will be doing their part to help alleviate the heavy traffic congestion associated with this by deploying their officers and Traffic Free Flow pointsmen, sponsored by OUTsurance, to main arterials, heavy congested and major routes.

This is according to metro police spokesperson Xolani Fihla, who said the directive was issued by acting Chief of Metro Police Thulani Khanyile.

“Officers cannot be at every corner and every intersection, so with the assistance of Traffic Free Flow pointsmen main arterials, heavy congested and major routes will be prioritised. Officers have also been tasked to monitor areas and intersections outside the peak hours, as we’ve received numerous complaints regarding homeless people controlling traffic.”

These periods are between 06:00 and 09:00 in the morning and 15:00 and 18:00 in the afternoon.

Motorists have been urged to adhere to and obey the rules of the road at all times, and where there are no pointsmen, to treat those intersections as compulsory stops.

Fihla added, “We discourage motorists from giving homeless people money as an incentive to control traffic. This encourages them to continue, and even go to the extent of tampering with traffic lights with the intention of making money. It further endangers the lives of the homeless individuals as they may be run over by vehicles.”

The public is encouraged to report any issues pertaining to traffic lights‚ cable theft‚ flooding‚ vandalism‚ accidents‚ broken-down vehicles, traffic violations, areas where traffic is gridlocked and where homeless people are controlling traffic.

Details: Traffic hotline 080 872 3342; City of Johannesburg’s emergency number 011 375 5911; metro police WhatsApp 081 410 6338.