Crash hotspot traffic cops idle after shambolic recall

IN THE same week that 27 people died on Eastern Cape roads, 77 provincial traffic officers who had been patrolling those areas found themselves twiddling their thumbs because they had nowhere to report for duty.

This follows a provincial traffic department decision to close six satellite traffic offices in the Amathole and Cacadu districts.

The department’s spokesman, Ncedo Kumbaca, confirmed the closure of the offices at Kei Bridge, Peddie, Humansdorp, Stutterheim, Lovers’ Twist and Zwelitsha.

He said they had formed part of a pilot project and “in terms of project management, such a project has a start and an end”.

He said a lack of funding and equipment, as well as office structures that were unsafe, had forced their closure.

But several senior officers said it was interesting that the project, having been piloted for five years, was only now “being stopped even though traffic officers’ visibility does help curb road accidents”.

The decision to close the offices was effective from September 1.

The satellite offices were located in areas known to have high road accident fatalities.

The Daily Dispatch reported this week on four major road accidents in those areas.

According to a transport department report, five national and provincial roads were identified as accident hotspots back in 2009, leading to the creation of the satellite offices.

These roads were:

• N2 between East London and King William’s Town;

N2 between East London and Kei Bridge;

N2 between King William’s Town and Fish River;

R72 between East London and Fish River; and

120km stretch of N6 between East London and Cathcart.

The Daily Dispatch has seen a copy of a concept document dated April 7 2009.

In it, acting deputy director WZ Gigi raised concerns over a single East London traffic station having such a vast patrol area.

“This creates a major problem for officers respond to accidents and incidents. We need to cover the patrol route from East London to Cathcart on the N6.

“This is also the case with the R72 patrol area that stretches 100km in one direction,” said Gigi.

The six satellite stations at Kei Bridge, Stutterheim, Lovers’ Twist, Peddie and Zwelitsha were launched that same month.

Accidents this week included a crash in which nine died on the R63 between Komga and King William’s Town, which would have been serviced by the Kei Bridge station, while seven more died in a three-car pile up between Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, a route previously monitored by officers from the Peddie station.

A senior traffic officer whose name is known to the Dispatch said: “Most of these accidents happened near the very same satellite traffic offices .

“You ask yourself why is it that management could not fix the structural and equipment challenges in the five years .

“Why close down such useful offices?”

Kumbaca said all officers were told to report to the Wilsonia traffic station in East London, where they were originally based.

Despite this, the officers found themselves sitting outside the Wilsonia offices on Monday, as no plan had allegedly been made to accommodate them within the building. “We had to turn them away because they had no documentation confirming their relocation to the provincial office,” said a senior officer whose name is known to the Dispatch.

One of the affected officers said: “Since Monday we are not sure where to go. We went to Wilsonia, we were turned away. I went back to my site, there was no one.

“I’m not sure whether I still have a job or not.”

Another said he had no choice but to book off duty for this week.

“How can a father wake up each day, but have no clue of where he should be reporting for duty?”

The affected officers claim the decision to close was texted to them over the weekend. “Is that professional,” an officer asked.

Kumbaca denied text messages were used to convey the decision. “Meetings were held first with the satellite station supervisors, second with unions, and lastly with junior officers.” He added that fully fledged stations would be established in Kei Bridge and Humansdorp. — zineg@dispatch.co.za