City can’t help former OUTsurance pointsmen
An affected former pointsman, Lifi Pooe told Northsider that they have sent emails to the City to inquire about this service, to no avail.
A former OUTsurance pointsman has turned to the Roodepoort Northsider to help them seek answers from the City of Johannesburg regarding their defunct jobs.
OUTsurance pointsmen, who were identifiable in green reflective gear with branding from JMPD and other sponsors, provided ease on many Joburg roads in areas with traffic congestion caused by malfunctioning traffic lights or an accident.
In 2019, prior to the dawn of the new leadership in the City, the private-public-partnership contract between the City and Traffic Free Flow (TFF) (Pty) Ltd lapsed resulting in the pointsmen no longer operating.
The termination of the contract left the pointsmen unemployed and unable to feed their families.
An affected former pointsman, Lifi Pooe told Northsider that they have sent emails to the City to inquire about this service, to no avail.
Prior to this, Pooe said they had handed over a memorandum to the then MMC for Public Safety, Michael Sun about their grievances.
The memo read, “We have been working under the harsh and slavery treatment of our employer, Traffic Free Flow (OUTsurance) for over a decade and have served the City of Johannesburg and its communities to our best abilities, but our lives have not improved but are rather miserable and stressful. We don’t have basic needs or any other employee benefits with our current employer TFF.”
The demands included permanent employment as oppose to contractual agreements with TFF; company benefits like a provident fund; and medical benefits, since they work under unsafe conditions.
The Northsider approached the City regarding these concerns and possible intervention. The City’s Communication and Stakeholder Liaison Manager, Lillian Selapisa responded. “The pointsmen were not employees of the City and therefore it is not possible for us to offer any form of intervention”.
Pooe cited that he was disappointed in the City for being inconsiderate as many former pointsmen remain unemployed, as such traffic remains a horrible nightmare across Joburg.
This is a developing story.
