Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) depot workers have been instructed to return to work full-time from Wednesday after the agency was forced to operate with a reduced staff complement under Covid-19 regulations.

The move, following a directive to return to work by acting city manager Floyd Brink, is expected to boost road-related service delivery across Johannesburg.

“Since Covid-19 regulations were gazetted in March 2020, the roads agency has been forced to reduce capacity at its depots, significantly affecting the repair and maintenance of road infrastructure throughout the city,” the city said on Wednesday.

“So severe were these conditions that, for five months following the resumption of Covid-19 regulations, JRA was unable to produce asphalt to carry out crucial repairs of potholes and road resurfacing.

“This comes after the JRA was not declared an essential service, resulting in the entity’s employees reporting for duty on a rotational basis.

“On the employee front, for almost two years the entity has been forced to operate with two-thirds of its usual workforce of general workers at any given time.”

Transport MMC councillor Funzela Ngobeni welcomed the move.

“With my office spearheading the rollout of A Re Sebetseng region-by-region service delivery blitz campaigns, the additional manpower will ensure service requests logged by residents will be addressed quicker than before.

“I have requested JRA CEO Selemo Republic Monakedi to inform the agency’s employees of this directive.

“As per the acting city manager’s directive, no JRA employee is permitted to negotiate to work from home. Identified vulnerable employees must be managed in line with occupational health and safety provisions.

“The roads agency must adhere to health and safety protocols related to hand sanitisers, screening, face masks and hygiene. Any employee who disregards this directive will be dealt with through JRA’s consequence management processes,” said Ngobeni.

TimesLIVE