The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Mpumalanga has received with deep shock and sadness the news of the death of Transport Inspector Kgaogelo Moela of the Ehlanzeni Transport Inspectorate, who was struck and killed by a minibus while on duty, in full uniform, along the N4 at Matafeni.

COSATU Mpumalanga conveys its heartfelt condolences to the Moela family, his colleagues at the Ehlanzeni Transport Inspectorate, and the broader traffic law-enforcement fraternity. No worker should lose their life simply for doing their job of keeping our roads safe.

We fully associate ourselves with the statement issued by our affiliate, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU), and we add our voice in full support of its demands.

Inspector Moela’s death is not an isolated incident. It is the tragic and foreseeable consequence of traffic officers being sent onto our roads, day and night, without the staffing, equipment and safety systems required to protect them. COSATU Mpumalanga shares POPCRU’s concern that the planned implementation of flexi-shift arrangements, without first resolving chronic staff shortages and the absence of a comprehensive safety plan, places officers in harm’s way and cannot be allowed to proceed as currently conceived.

Extending operating hours and deploying already overstretched officers into high-risk, low-visibility night conditions, without adequate vehicles, lighting equipment, protective gear and clear emergency-response protocols, is not service delivery. It is a failure of the employer’s basic duty of care to its workers.

COSATU Mpumalanga therefore joins POPCRU in demanding that the employer:

•    Hold the implementation of flexi-shift arrangements in abeyance until sufficient human resources and tools of trade are in place.

•    Urgently finalize and implement, in genuine consultation with organised labour, a comprehensive safety plan for roadside and night-time law-enforcement operations;

•    Provide adequate operational vehicles, lighting and visibility equipment, personal protective equipment and reliable communication systems for all traffic officers; and

•    Engage meaningfully and without further delay on the introduction of a death grant for traffic law-enforcement employees, so that families are not left destitute when a worker dies in the line of duty.

We further call for a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Inspector Moela’s death, including the matters raised regarding his deployment status, and for the criminal case against the driver who allegedly fled the scene to proceed speedily and without fear or favour.

COSATU Mpumalanga will not stand by while workers are expected to deliver a 24-hour public service without the resources and protection needed to do so safely. We call on the employer to treat this tragedy as a turning point, not another statistic to be mourned and then forgotten. The safety of traffic officers must be treated with the same urgency as the service they are expected to deliver.

We stand with POPCRU and with all traffic officers in Mpumalanga, demanding that every worker who leaves home to enforce the law is guaranteed the right to return home safely.

Robala ka kgotso, Comrade Moela.

Issued by COSATU Mpumalanga

Thabo Mokoena (Provincial Secretary)

Contact 073 750 2041