With the uncontrolled traffic and the mounting backlog of licences in Upington, the Democratic Alliance (DA) insists that the Dawid Kruiper municipality develop capacity within the municipal traffic services immediately.
The traffic office is regularly closed due to a combination of personnel shortages and loadshedding, and people are being denied basic services. This is affecting people who require valid licenses to be able to work. It further places people at risk of receiving fines for expired licenses, which is completely out of their control. It is also very difficult to secure drivers’ license appointments.
The roads are also chaotic. When robots are broken, there is no capacity within the traffic department to offer road-traffic assistance at busy intersections at peak traffic slots.
The turn-around time for repairs also stretches into months. The robot at the fire station has been off for six months. At the Pick ‘n Pay robot, and especially the subway, people wait in the queue for hours, as they struggle to negotiate the four-way traffic. At times, it takes 10 minutes to travel from the gate of the showgrounds to the robot. This is not only a massive frustration to motorists, but the disorderly traffic also poses a constant risk to road users, and a number of accidents have already taken place.
The municipality has blamed damaged cables, broken parts, and even the theft of parts for the delays in repairs.
At a recent municipal committee meeting, the DA questioned the collapse of traffic services in Upington, calling for services to be speedily reinstated. The municipal traffic department blamed the situation on capacity constraints and delays in the appointment of personnel.
The DA has submitted a formal request to Dawid Kruiper for an urgent committee meeting to further discuss the personnel challenges, the budget, and the proposed purchase of a generator to allow traffic services to operate uninterrupted.
Motorists must not be punished because of the municipality’s failure to deliver on its mandate.