One of the biggest bugbears among our northern suburb community members is undoubtedly bad driving behaviour. So when the City’s new Operation Buya Mthetho turned attention to drivers who were not abiding by the road rules on William Nicol Drive and Witkoppen Road, our readers celebrated.
Operation Buya Mthetho was launched just over a month ago, with the aim of enforcing bylaws and ‘to bring back the rule of law to the City of Johannesburg’ – to quote the Executive Mayor, Herman Mashaba, in a statement issued on the launch day, 5 February.
“Operation Buya Mthetho will be a joint operation between all key City departments and entities,” said Mashaba, in part.
Metro police spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar, told one of our journalists that they had received various complaints regarding bad driving behaviour and had compiled a list of hotspots. Metro police officers were now covering those hotspots and fining anyone who did not abide by the law, Minnaar was quoted as saying.
The Metro police’s success reports have poured in: 21 unroadworthy and unlicensed minibus taxis were impounded on William Nicol Drive and Witkoppen Road. This follows after 20 unroadworthy minibus taxis were tested, and subsequently discontinued, earlier in the month. A further 17 taxis were then impounded on Witkoppen Road for being unroadworthy or because the drivers were operating on the incorrect side of the road.
This newsroom’s report on the latter sparked a flurry of comments from readers who thanked and congratulated the Metro police on their efforts. Many listed their own hotspot areas – something that’s in line with the City’s call for residents to report crime and criminals to the authorities.
Concern was raised too. Some readers questioned whether the fines would be paid and the unroadworthy vehicles would remain off of the roads.
They make good points. There is no doubt that the operation has had many successes so far, and the City has certainly made a noise about them – like the collection of R1,8 million from accounts in arrears in just two weeks. The real test, though, is in the longevity of Operation Buya Mthetho and the extent to which the state enforcement agencies can hold lawbreakers to account and root out criminal activities for good.
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