No plan to train ‘unauthorised pointsmen’ at intersections, says Kunene

The  “unauthorised pointsmen”, many of whom normally stand at intersections to ask for money or food, has become a familiar sight in the city.

Kunene has labelled the situation as “embarrassing”, as it is not their job to direct traffic.

 “It is a disgrace on a city that is said to be a world class city. It is an embarrassment. A serious embarrassment. And every time I see them, and I am in my blue light, and we must stop and wait for them to tell us to move, the pain I feel is excruciating.

“The homeless, you must have seen that a lot of them are very tipsy when they control traffic. And they could be opening both lanes while they’re talking to each other. We will look at those who are in a health condition to train, but I think that my input with the MMC of Public Safety is that we partner with the companies that are going to work with us and come up with a model that one insurance company has done and see how they can assist us in terms of adopting some traffic intersections where they will also take care of those controlling traffic. At this point in time there is no plan from my side to train them.” 

Kunene briefed the media in Braamfontein on Thursday to provide an update on the situation at the Department of Transport. 

He said Joburg needs at least R37 billion to fix its roads. 

“We need money. We need R37 billion to be able to reconstruct our roads properly. National government and provincial government and the City of Joburg say that Joburg is a world-class city. Our road infrastructure is far from being world class, it must be compared to a rural area or a village.”

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