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.

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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.