- Johannesburg Roads Agency workers were seen in a video doing road maintenance work, but using a regular agency vehicle.
- The agency has since placed the two officials on "precautionary" suspension.
- According to JRA, the vehicle was used to compact and level asphalt onto a newly filled pothole in the Norwood area.
The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) has initiated an investigation after a video emerged on social media showing its workers using a regular vehicle to conduct road maintenance in Norwood, instead of a construction vehicle.
The video shows two officials compacting and levelling asphalt onto a newly filled pothole, by driving back and forth over it with a branded Isuzu.
"What the officials were seen doing in the video is against the JRA’s standards and norms on road maintenance works and such behaviour is highly regrettable and condemned."
The JRA has since placed the two officials on "precautionary" suspension.
#JoburgServices The JRA strongly condemns the use of a regular vehicle to repair potholes. @CityofJoburgZA @CoJTransport @NHMakhuba @GeoffMakhubo pic.twitter.com/qqWNCbQSuZ
— Joburg Roads Agency (@MyJRA) May 17, 2021
The agency said a full investigation on the matter had been instituted to ascertain if other officials were involved.
"Necessary steps and actions will be taken to hold the officials in question accountable. In a bid to address the regrettable matter as speedily as possible, an investigation report will be submitted to the Office of the Chief Executive Officer in no later than 48 hours."
The JRA said it prided itself on carrying out its work in the most "professional, correct, and respectable" way, "without compromising its reputation and the safety and wellbeing of the people it was tasked to serve.
"Considering what has transpired, no number of words can fully express how shamed and regretful the JRA is by the actions of officials who should know better and do better at all material times."