More traffic officers to beef road safety in Mpumalanga

By BRIAN KAJENGO

As part of beefing up law enforcement and enhancing traffic safety, Mpumalanga Community, Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe has unveiled 101 traffic officers today (11 April 2014) in Bushbuckridge.

Fifty of the officers graduated from Limpopo’s traffic training College recently while others graduated from Gauteng in January this year. With the addition of the newly recruited officers the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison now 745 traffic officers.

With this development the department is expected to achieve great strides in enhancing road safety and speedily bringing to book those who violate traffic regulations.

The MEC believes the deployment of the newly appointed officers could not have come at a better time as the province is preparing for the Easter Holidays.

“We want to warn motorists who are not complying with traffic regulations that their days are numbered and we are gradually closing in on them,” he said.

The officers were unveiled during a Sod Turning Ceremony for the construction of Mpumalanga Traffic Training College. The college will be used for training future traffic officers and it would further be utilized to reskill existing officials.

The existence of the college would also assist the province to save money in the long term because once it is functional, traffic management trainees will no longer be sent outside the province. It would also benefit the local communities both in terms of temporal employment during the construction phase and permanent employment when it becomes functional.

The MEC has called on Bushbuckridge community members to look well after the traffic college saying that they should not vandalize it once it has been completed.

 He has further called on the communities to avoid torching government buildings during service delivery protests and that no one has a right to harass community members during the protests however genuine their concerns are. 

Welcoming the construction of the college, SAPS Provincial Commissioner, Thulani Ntobela said that the college should not only be utilized for training traffic officers but it should also also be used for training SAPS members in the future.

Echoing Ntobela’s sentiments regarding the college, SANTANCO’s July Msiza said his association was grateful to the department and that the community must safeguard the structure. Msiza has also pleaded the association’s full support for the department’s road safety initiatives. He has further called on taxi drivers to prioritize safety on the road at all times in order to avoid accidents.

At the same function Shongwe also launched the provincial Easter Arrive Campaign where he called on road users to assist government to reduce injuries and deaths on the road by among others not drinking while they are driving, exceeding set speed limits, overtaking dangerously and disregarding other traffic rules and regulations.

He also urged vehicle owners not to give unlicensed people or teenagers their vehicles as these previously led to fatal crashes. The MEC cited the example of an unlicensed teenager whose actions led to the death of seven people in Bushbuckridge in December 2012.

The MEC said that attention will paid to roadworthiness of vehicles, driver fitness and overloading especially of vehicles traveling to the various ports of entry during these holidays.

Shongwe also urged the business sector to work with government in ensuring that communities are safe. He says older community members have the responsibility to educate the youth on social behavior and the importance of preserving resources for future generations.

The event was among others supported by the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport SAPS, South African Council of Churches, Bushbuckridge Municipality, Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leadership, he taxi industry as well as community members.