Johannesburg’s traffic lights have been plagued by vandalism, theft and accidents; and require millions to repair.
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) is on a recruitment drive to hire more men and women to direct traffic at intersections across the metro.
Faulty and damaged traffic lights are a common sight on daily commutes, with the pointsmen helping to lower Johannesburg’s blood pressure in heavily congested traffic.
The call for applications opened last week with the closing date for applications set for 11 February.
R70 million to fix traffic lights
Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) recently stated that it would require roughly R70 million to repair the city’s broken and vandalised traffic lights.
In addition, JRA said that over 98% of the 1,400 uninterrupted power supply units installed at traffic lights in recent years had since been stolen.
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The soon-to-be-recruited pointsmen will be part of the Department of Public Safety and will be tasked with traffic management and control.
Further competencies include knowledge of the Criminal Procedures Act, National Road Traffic Act and Johannesburg’s by-laws.
The CoJ states the primary function is ” to patrol an area as assigned for the enforcement of general law and order in terms of powers conferred upon a peace officer.”
Only Grade 10 needed
The CoJ did not specify how many positions would be filled but stated the short-term contracts will not exceed 12 months.
The remuneration package consists of R110 per hour with no benefits. The minimum requirements are a Grade 10 or NQF level 2 and a clean criminal record.
Applications must be made online using the CoJ website portal. They must include a downloaded application form, proof of education, ID, and CV, and the originals must be produced if shortlisted.
The Gauteng Provincial Department of Roads and Transport is responsible for the majority of main arterials through Johannesburg, and it is finalising its adoption of a robot campaign.
NOW READ: Private sector asked to ‘adopt’ Gauteng traffic lights
