Members of the National Traffic Police have refused to leave their deployment base in Midrand‚ north of Johannesburg‚ embarking on an impromptu illegal strike to voice their workplace grievances.
The officers have been on a go-slow since Monday‚ with half of the 40 officers per shift going out to enforce national traffic laws on the country’s major roads‚ but this failed to draw the attention of their superiors and they went on an illegal strike.
The officers said they were treated in an inhumane manner and have no proper equipment to carry out their duties.
One of the burning issues is that they have been removed from their posh offices in Faerie Glen‚ Pretoria East‚ and “dumped” in open veld near Midrand‚ with a single mobile toilet for about 40 female and male officers.
The fenced-off open area‚ which this publication visited on Wednesday adjacent to the SA National Roads Agency offices in Samrand‚ does not have a shelter and the officers have to take refuge in their cars to escape the blazing sun or heat. A putrid smell from sewerage flowing into the nearby stream hangs over the base as some of the idling officers eat their lunch.