Durban street beggars upstage loadshedding

WHILE load-shedding is hogging news headlines, street beggars have been the talk of the town on social media for taking matters into their own hands to help direct traffic and ease congestion.

As South Africans contend with the power blackouts, traffic has been horrendous especially during peak traffic hours.

With no Metro police or pointsman in sight, Nhlankanipho Justice, also known as N’tofoh, and his friends are effortlessly directing traffic at the intersection of Hunt Road and King Dinizulu Road, making sure motorists don’t get caught in a traffic jam.

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“It will be careless of us to just to leave things as they are. I assure you it will be a crazy day. I have been in this spot for four years now, because I am unemployed I regard this spot as my workplace. I have to make sure everything and everyone feels safe. We help from the goodness of our hearts, whether people thank us with money or what, it does not matter because all we want to do is ensure that the traffic flows and people get to their homes safe,” said Justice.

While many have applauded the group for their good deed, others are a little concerned about whether Justice and his friends have the necessary skills to direct and control traffic.

“Not everyone who drives a car knows the rules of the road. I have found that most people rely on us, but there others who just want to go. I believe we are now experienced, because we have been doing this for a very long time, even if there’s two of us working on this intersection, we have to communicate in order for traffic to flow. Some people don’t like us here, because it means there’s a high chance that an accident might happen and that means more business for them,” he said.

Social media users were divided in their opinions. Some applauded the men, saying they were doing a great job and risked their lives to assist others while others advised motorists to ignore them and obey the law and treat the intersection as a four-way stop.

Metro police could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.

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