You may be wondering what has happened to the OUTsurance pointsmen who provided relief at numerous busy intersections when the traffic lights were dysfunctional.
Well, the fact is that their contract with the City lapsed, resulting in the stoppage of their highly valued work.
However, the City of Johannesburg City Manager, Dr Ndivho Lukhwareni has apologised for the inconvenience to the residents and said that they were engaging with the service provider to discuss the possibility of extending the contract.
“The City of Johannesburg is currently engaging the service provider of the OUTsurance pointsmen with the intention of extending the contract on a month-to-month basis for a period not exceeding six months, while the City wraps up its supply chain management process for the awarding of a new contract,” said Lukhwareni.
“We would like to sincerely apologise to our residents for the miscommunication regarding this issue and any inconvenience and frustration caused by traffic congestion in their absence.
“There can be no doubt that these traffic pointsmen have become a major part of traffic management in the city and are loved by many residents. This is a tradition we wish to see continued,” he said, thanking them for their hard work and contribution to making the roads safer and in the process, saving the residents many valuable hours in traffic.
In recouping this contract, the City manager said they had a Private-Public-Partnership contract with Traffic Free Flow (TFF) (Pty) Ltd, 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,” he said.
He also reminded the residents that besides the pointsmen, JMPD deploys an average of 300 JMPD officers daily, covering 55 identified spots and 89 school points to manage traffic. In addition to this, the JMPD deploys over 150 traffic wardens daily to deal with the Joburg Inner City traffic which has escalated while the M2 highway is undergoing maintenance.
He also mention that processes have to be followed to revive this initiative.“The City of Johannesburg prides itself on being transparent and accountable. We are committed to informing the public once this process is completed and we humbly request our residents’ patience during this process. 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,” he outlined.
He concluded by urging residents to use the City’s 24-hour Traffic Hotline (080 872 3342) to report any traffic-related problems and 011 375 5911 to report any emergencies.
