The City of Joburg is seeking an extension of the OUTsurance Pointsmen… again.
Johannesburg, South Africa – This will be the second time that the City of Joburg have let the contract lapse, and the second time they are trying to reinstate the same provider, who is offering the service to the city for FREE!
The City of Johannesburg is currently engaging the service provider of the OUTsurance Pointsmen (Traffic Free Flow) with the intention of extending the contract on a month-to-month basis for a period not exceeding six months.
But this is the second time in a year that the city has gone through the same process, with the same outcome.
On the 29 August 2018 Herman Mashaba, Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, saved over 170 jobs after reinstating the Johannesburg OUTsurance Pointsmen during a lapse in the contract but a year later and it seems that the tender process has come into question again.
And South Africans cant understand the turn-around on the decision or why the service keeps going out for tender when it is actually free.
Just a year ago, the Mayor pointed out how ridiculous it was to let a contract expire that was ultimately free for the city and such a massive help with traffic flow.
“But imagine that we are getting a free service and not paying for it and then for some reason, there are some officials who either deliberate or through lack of competence just let that contract expire?” The Mayor of Johannesburg opened up to David O’Sullivan and his listeners on KAYA FM.
He blamed the contract and tender process on a “systemic way to really sabotage his administration” but a year later and our intersections are a mess while the 170 Pointsmen are nowhere to be seen.
OUTsurance released a statement on the 1 September 2019 regretfully confirming that the tender process for the awarding of the Pointsmen contract has not been completed by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) before the deadline of 31 August 2019.
And on the 12 September, the City of Johannesburg released a counter statement seeking out an extension with the current OUTsurance Pointsmen.
“We would like to sincerely apologise to our residents for the miscommunication regarding this issue and any inconvenience and frustration caused by traffic congestion in their absence.”
Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) deploys on average 300 JMPD officers daily to manage traffic covering 55 identified spots and 89 school points. In addition to this, the JMPD deploys over 150 traffic
wardens daily to deal with the Joburg Inner City traffic which has escalated while the M2 highway is under maintenance.
But the OUTsurance Pointsmen have been an integral part of commuters lives in Joburg.
The City has held a Private-Public-Partnership contract with Traffic Free Flow (TFF) (Pty) Ltd, who is mainly sponsored by OUTsurance, to provide additional traffic pointsmen alongside the JMPD. These traffic pointsmen are trained by the JMPD before being deployed on our roads.
The city agrees that there can be no doubt that these traffic pointsmen have become a major part of traffic management in the city and are loved by many residents and that this is a tradition they wish to see continued.
“On behalf of the City of Johannesburg and the JMPD, I want to thank all the traffic pointsmen for their hard work and contribution to making our roads safer and in the process, saving our residents many valuable hours in traffic.
We hope to get all traffic pointsmen back on our roads as soon as possible.”
Remember to use the 24 hours Traffic Hotline 080 872 3342 to report any traffic-related problems and 011 375 5911 to report any emergencies.
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