City’s tough stance warmly welcomed

THE City of uMhlathuze has cracked the whip.

Fed up with the destruction of our roads, the interminable traffic congestion issues on the N2 and the John Ross highway, health risks posed by coal dust inhalation, and general inconvenience caused by the heavy-duty tipper trucks that have plagued us for the last two years, they have said, “Enough is enough.”

Quite rightly, the city needs someone to take ownership of a problem with which we have been saddled, soaking up the punishment until breaking point. It is noteworthy that overtime pay for traffic officers brought the matter to a head: the funds needed to pay overtime have been depleted after a short period, owing to the vast number of extra hours the policing of trucks has necessitated.

The traffic officials have virtually lived on the roads, often in extreme weather conditions, trying in vain to get some kind of orderliness into the chaotic midst of undisciplined truck drivers and their owners, who appear to have little concern for what happens at the other end of the route from the coal mines.

To add insult to injury, the poor traffic cops often come in for flak from the public, who expect them to be at every intersection at all times of the day or night. They need to be properly remunerated for their efforts, and that money should come from national coffers.

The inability of the port to handle the millions of tonnes of export coal that pours in is also beyond the control of the municipality, but the harbour problems spill out onto the city roads.

Transnet owns the problem, and we applaud the stance taken by city leadership.

It is no exaggeration to say that, had something not been done now, ‘gatvol’ residents would have taken matters into their own hands in some form of protest. On a separate matter, the city council last week passed a recommendation sanctioning the alleged fraudulent behaviour of a ward councillor, who falsified an invoice to reflect a higher amount and pocketed the difference.

It’s the principle, rather than the amount, that is at issue.

All councillors sign a code of conduct by which they must abide, and are well aware of the consequences.

Would be that all councillors and officials at all government departments were dealt with in a similar manner, rather than getting away with theft on the scale of millions of rands.