TRAFFIC COPS TURN ON ROADS CHIEF
COLLINS Letsoalo, acting chief executive of the Road Traffic Management Corporation, has been accused of waging a vendetta against a bus company that wouldn’t transport ANC Youth League members.
He allegedly ordered members of the National Traffic Police to remove 21 buses belonging to a Limpopo company that refused to ferry Julius Malema’s supporters to a march in October last year.
The allegations are contained in a letter penned to Minister of Transport Sbu Ndebele in December by members of the newly formed National Traffic Police (NTP) and RTMC staff.
The officers claimed Letsoalo called them “dogs” when they tried to argue about the unreasonable order.
“He told us to go to Limpopo and forced us to discontinue buses there,” the officers wrote to Ndebele. “We heard afterwards that some of the buses he wanted us to discontinue belonged to companies that refused to transport (ANC) youth league members to Pretoria for a march.”
Yesterday Great North Transport, whose depot in Seshego was raided by the NTP members and had its buses taken off the road, claimed some of the buses were even taken out of maintenance workshops.
“They impounded 21 buses without providing any explanation and what shocked us was that these vehicles were not in operation,” said the company’s secretary, Kgabo Mapotse.
“We believe that this action was illegal and we complained because our vehicles were stationary.”
Mapotse said that some of their offices in Limpopo may have been approached for transport by political parties previously.
However, Letsoalo flatly denied that there was any political motive behind the raid.
“We have had several raids of depots, starting with Putco in Gauteng. It was part of an exercise,” he said.
“At no point was this done because of any influence or motive other than to check for unroadworthy vehicles.
“We had been focusing on buses at the time and we did not only raid Great North Transport in Limpopo… there were several others where it was even worse.”
Letsoalo also denied that his officers had impounded the buses, but he said they were instead discontinued.
“We didn’t target anyone and leave others. We raided bus companies in Mpumalanga, North West and Gauteng,” he added. “We are going to do the same again in March in preparation for Easter. The aim is not to be punitive but to ensure the buses are roadworthy.”
Last month more than 80 employees of the RTMC who called for Letsoalo’s removal were fired for participating in an unprotected strike but were later reinstated with final warnings.
The employees were unhappy with Letsoalo’s leadership style and accused him of refusing to meet them to address issues pertaining to the RTMC.
Tiyani Rikhotso, spokesman for the Department of Transport, confirmed yesterday that the staff letter had been sent to the minister.
“In the best interests of objectivity approaching these issues we always pursue relevant channels internally,” he said. “There is leadership at RTMC and the minister is happy that there is stability after challenges of the past.”
Robin Carlisle, Wester n Cape transport MEC and member of the RTMC’S shareholder’s committee, said the staff morale at the road traffic body was at “its worst”.
“They are the unhappiest staff I have ever seen in my life,” he said. “RTMC is today without the expertise it needs to operate because most experts on road safety have been either suspended or fired.”