In the midst of Johannesburg’s traffic mayhem, a lone street controller managed to direct a taxi driver to obey—a small miracle in the city’s traffic chaos.
Random streetwalkers directing traffic at big Johannesburg intersections where the traffic lights are out have become part of everyday life.
These cowboys have even made international headlines, with one online British newspaper running a story a few years ago along the lines of “the homeless people who direct the traffic in the continent’s richest city”.
The activity on the side of the road at Joburg’s major intersections have always rivalled the actual traffic on it. From a variety of vendors to beggars holding spelling-error ridden placards, these are bustling places.
During the height of load shedding, random points people became the next big thing at intersections.
Unqualified strangers started popping up all over the show as there are not nearly enough professional points people.
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And we know, the actual traffic police would much rather halt traffic again 100m after the dysfunctional intersection to check for expired licence discs than help direct it.
Quite remarkably, these random points people have kept their “jobs” all of 250 days after power cuts have ended. At any given day, at any given time, you can expect any given set of traffic lights in Joburg to be out.
The official reason is usually that the power cables have been stolen. Other conspiracy theories are that they are deliberately turned off before they are courteously switched back on when that “syndicate” knocks off.
This typical South African setup is here to stay, despite these people risking their lives to make a quick buck. And not everyone will admit to it, but sometimes they do a decent job.
I have seen groups of between three and six guys running a tight show at major intersections like the on- and off-ramps to the N1 on Winnie Mandela Drive (previously William Nicol).
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But my personal favourite happened in Randburg one morning during rush hour.
As a minibus taxi came flying down the turning lane to skip the queue in typical fashion, a lonesome warrior flagged him down with his lappie.
As I closed my eyes in anticipation of the poor soul booking a meeting with his maker, something extraordinary happened. Something not even professional points people always pull off. The taxi stopped and obeyed.
Even better, the taxi driver gave the man a tip in the form of a note nogal.
Organised chaos at its best.
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