A multi-million-rand project intended to bolster road safety in the Northern Cape has collapsed, leaving dozens of qualified traffic trainees in limbo and prompting calls for severe accountability from a leading trade union.
The Public Servants Association (PSA) is demanding decisive action following an alleged administrative failure by the Northern Cape Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison that reportedly led to the squandering of R19.5 million in public funds. The money was allocated for the recruitment and training of new traffic officers for deployment across the province.
According to the PSA, the project has completely fallen apart. While the department held a graduation ceremony in January for 18 of the 50 trainees who successfully completed their training, the remaining 32 graduates say promises of employment have come to nothing. They now find themselves without jobs and with little hope of answers from the department that trained them.
PSA Provincial Manager, Steve Ledibane, expressed outrage at the situation, stating that taxpayer money had been utterly wasted. “It is disturbing and it is very worrisome that R19.5 million was spent for these students, amongst others, to go and train and develop into traffic officers, that at this stage in time the employer is not saying anything about employing them,” Ledibane said.
He further rejected any potential defense from the department. “We don’t really buy the notion that the employer does not have a contract.”
The union has accused the department of attempting to hide the issue through its silence. The Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison has declined to comment on the matter.
Ledibane condemned this lack of transparency, suggesting it indicates a desire to conceal the truth. “Naturally if somebody wants to hide something, definitely they will certainly stay away from media or from commenting because they want to hide issues,” he said.
The PSA framed the consequences of the department’s inaction in stark terms, characterizing it as a profound betrayal of the young graduates. “From the PSA side, we see this as the murdering and the killing of the aspirations [and] the dreams of… appointment for these traffic officers,” Ledibane stated.
The union is now insisting on full accountability for the failed project and the millions of rands lost, maintaining that the department’s silence is an unacceptable response to a crisis that has shattered the career prospects of dozens of newly trained public servants.
