Throw the book at Ekurhuleni thugs in uniform 

Throw the book at Ekurhuleni thugs in uniform 

An ubiquitous feature of our cities, especially the metros, are the snarling traffic building up on roads due to malfunctioning traffic lights or loadshedding, more so on arterial routes. Feel free to add the theft of traffic lights to the endless causes, dear reader. 

Major intersections have been relieved of traffic signals by vandals who seem to be operating with the confidence and brazenness of someone given the freedom of the city, knowing they are immune to any consequence for their crimes. 

South Africa is probably the only country where such crimes are tolerated, with the authorities seemingly clueless about what to do. How else are we to describe activities where thieves need no second invitation to harvest public infrastructure at a huge cost to the economy, while those mandated to uphold law and order are doing nothing tangible about it. 

Major intersections in Johannesburg and neighbouring Ekurhuleni have gone neglected for inordinate periods of time, leaving motorists frustrated and dreading using certain roads. 

There appears to be no will on the part of the metropolitan police officers to help the situation. Often after taking forever to navigate chaotic intersections, motorists find themselves falling foul of the law and duly getting snared by speed traps literally a few hundred metres down the road while trying to make up for lost time. 

Often beggars and street vendors take it upon themselves, risking lives and limbs – theirs and road users’ – to direct traffic, while those paid to do so would not be bothered. There is simply no interest in ameliorating the increasingly chaotic state of our roads. 

This attitude was brought into stark focus on Wednesday when diligent traffic officers of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department saw fit to block major highways in the city, including those to OR Tambo International, Africa’s busiest and biggest airport, to protest their working conditions and wage issues. 

No doubt many missed their flights, some out of the country, bringing unwanted international attention on SA while simultaneously portraying us as the lawless society we increasingly are. 

For starters, the law – of which metro police officers are among the custodians – does not permit police officers to go on strike,. There are other ways to handle such matters. Imagine the free-for-all we would have if the police were not governed by such a strict regime. 

The conduct, therefore, of the men and women in the police service, at all levels, should always be exemplary and respectful of the law. We have often witnessed the kind of thuggery we saw on Wednesday at the behest of minibus taxi operators, the undisputed champions of lawlessness on South African roads. 

The metro police are the first port of call when people are confronted with the kind of mayhem the supposed law enforcers visited on motorists on Wednesday. Who is guarding the guards? 

It is precisely in this spirit that we cannot have law enforcers breaking the law that we are calling on the City of Ekurhuleni to throw the book at the rogues and make an example of them if we are to have any hope of keeping chaos, lawlessness and mayhem at bay. 

There are times when the might of the state can justifiably be visited on the delinquent, and this is one of those. 

Visit SW YouTube Channel for our video content 

Thando Dlungwane