The Musina Municipality has hired two vehicles to ease the pressure resulting from a lack of vehicles for their traffic officers.

Recently, there has been outcry from opposition political parties that the situation was affecting service delivery, as there were also claims that the municipal traffic officers were patrolling on foot.

Municipal spokesperson Wilson Dzebu acknowledged that there was serious shortage of vehicles in the traffic division. He said that the division had four cars. “Three of the cars broke down and the fourth one was involved in an accident while the traffic officers were on duty. This affected us negatively and traffic officers had to keep on working, despite the serious challenge of the vehicle shortage.”

Dzebu admitted that, at times, some of the traffic officers were forced to patrol on foot. “Foot patrol is part of our traffic officials’ daily duties and it is not a must that each traffic officer should have a car. However, we would like to thank this team of dedicated men and women who continued to work tirelessly despite those challenges,” he added

He said the municipality had decided to hire two cars to make sure that the traffic officers performed their duties with ease. “Besides the two cars that we have hired, another bakkie that went for repair is now back. This means that we have three vehicles in our traffic section. This will ease the pressure as our traffic officials will now have vehicles to use when they execute their duties.”

He added that the municipality would acquire new cars during the new financial year, which starts next month. “We are going to buy three new vehicles for our traffic officers immediately when the new financial year starts in July. We are prepared to serve our communities and deliver excellent service, despite a lack of resources.”

He warned motorists who might want to take advantage of the situation in Musina. “The long arm of the law is very tight and anyone who might want to take advantage will be subjected to the strongest disciplinary action.”

In a press release that Limpopo Mirror recently received, Mr Geoffrey Tshibvumo, the regional chairperson for COPE in Vhembe, expressed his disappointment with the manner in which the administration of Musina Municipality is running their traffic department. Tshibvumo stated that the situation was due to poor management and poor planning. “This is a clear demonstration of how the ruling party leads ... they don’t have the capacity or the know-how. Every time there is a post available, they hire their incompetent comrades,” Tshibvumo added.