City of Joburg seeks extension of traffic pointsmen contract

The City of Johannesburg says it is engaging with the service provider of the OUTsurance pointsmen project, Traffic Freeflow (TFF), to extend its contract on a month-to-month basis for a period not exceeding six months.

This after TFF pulled its pointsmen from the streets stating it was yet to receive communication from the City and could not operate without an extension or a tender being awarded to it.

The tender process for the awarding of the contract has not been completed by the City, resulting in TFF pulling its services because of uncertainty.

The deadline for the completion of the process was meant to be August 31.

Now, the City plans to sign a month-to-month contract while it wraps up its supply chain management process for the awarding of a new contract.

“It is also important for our residents to note that besides the Outsurance pointsmen, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department [JMPD] deploys on average about 300 JMPD officers daily to manage traffic covering 55 identified spots and 89 school points,” city manager Dr Ndivho Lukhwareni said in a statement.

Speaking to News24 on Monday, TFF CEO Bheki Zondo said it had submitted a tender to continue providing services to the City that was under review and it was unclear if or when it would be awarded.

“They came to a decision on August 31 that they will not be granting us an extension and would prefer completing the adjudication process as well as awarding the tender to a successful bidder.

“The problem is that we do not know how long that process is going to take because, effectively, we have been operating under three extensions that were granted to us by the City, and on September 1 a further extension was not granted to the company. We took our guys off the street because in order for us to operate, we need permission or a contract running,” Zondo said.

The City has apologised to motorists and residents for the miscommunication regarding the issue, adding the JMPD would be increasing its efforts while the contract extension was being finalised.

“It is important to understand that we work within a highly regulated environment and even though this is a free service to the City, due process in terms of our supply chain management policy must be followed.

“The City has held a private-public-partnership contract with Traffic Freeflow, which is mainly sponsored by OUTsurance, to provide additional traffic pointsmen alongside the JMPD. These traffic pointsmen are trained by the JMPD before being deployed on our roads,” said Lukhwareni.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.