Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
Divorce, Maintenance, Personal Injury, Medical Negligence
I have written before about calling Johannesburg a world class city, but it was driven home to me again on 4 March that we are not close to a world class city. It took many of my staff members nearly 2 hours to get to work simply because it has rained for a few days and once again all of the robots are out of order and top it off, when they arrived at work, there was no electricity in the suburb of Parkwood!
It really is very difficult to compete, on an international scale, when we are so uncompetitive when it comes to the basics – a business cannot run very well without electricity and while we have a very expensive UPS system to run the computers for a few hours, that is another cost of doing business in South Africa. It absolutely blows my mind however that the City of Johannesburg simply cannot sort out the robot problems and that every single time it rains a commute that should take people 45 minutes turns into 1 hour 30 minutes or 2 hours! In most countries the people running the city would be voted out of office if they allowed such a situation to continue and it is rather sad that as South Africans we are forced to accept that just because it rains, robots will stop working – as if they cannot be waterproofed and there is no defence against rain – and they cannot be fixed timeously either – they will stay out of order no doubt for days, if not weeks.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Monday 10-Mar-14
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Comments
Henrietta said:
on Friday 14-Mar-14 05:51 PM
Again no surprise..... We are talking about Johannesburg after all and anything is possible..... And yet when voting time comes..... its all the same all over again for the next 5 .... Seriously hoping for a change this year, but not holding my breath.
salomie said:
on Wednesday 12-Mar-14 08:56 AM
this is SA and we love it anyway
Brenda said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 05:50 PM
It has become very predictable that when it rains, everything is going to fall to pieces. It is a guarantee that many robots will be out on your way to work and of course, there is the risk of driving into a pothole which could also cause extreme damage to your vehicle. This is really something that needs to be worked on, but of course that would mean finding a way to get more money out people, because improvements to our roads and traffic lights is going to cost money. So if we want the situation to change, we are going to accept the fact that we are going to pay for it in some way or other.
Cindy said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 04:49 PM
TRAFFIC!! One of the things I hate most!! One of the robots that we go by has not been working since we started work in January. Its really frustrating.
Safia said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 01:39 PM
I think the key to survive in a badly organised city is to live very close to work,shop locally and basically very seldom leave your little village/area. may be to accept much smaller house or a flat, few luxury things, sell the car but reduce stress and mostly save time to live a life not stand in traffic 2-3 hours a day.every day.
Refilwe said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 12:57 PM
THIS is the reason why i am sometimes late for work, and I'm hating it everyday.
I travel on main roads (Malibongwe Jan Smuts) and since 2 weeks ago none of the robots have been functioning. I'm honestly not surprised that this problem has not yet been attended to, its very typical.
Joyce said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 12:46 PM
To stuck in traffic its so frustrating and worse when its raining and robots are not working, I think quality waterproofed robots are needed to sort out the traffic mess
Ashleigh said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 12:29 PM
What really frustrates me is that Traffic Officers will not even direct traffic when robots are out. They drive past the issue without a care but further down the road they are pulling people over to give them fines. These sort of problems lead to accidents, road rage and unfairness because people do not know how the rules of the road. And its amazing how people forget how to drive in bad weather conditions.
Sorea said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 12:07 PM
I am with David. Trying to think of something funny, but there is nothing.
Liesl said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 10:49 AM
I suppose one should not complain about rain as there are places in this world that are in desperate need for rain but its been causing so much havoc and destruction. Enough already
Sarah said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 10:36 AM
I have noticed that all the robots that are off or not working well are the same ones all the time, When it rains for some reason those robots just don't work.
Simone said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 10:35 AM
We should just move our offices to Cape Town... *hint hint*
I absolutely love Johannesburg, but sitting without electricity is completely frustrating. I have had to learn all the back routes to get to work. With no traffic it takes me 15 minutes to get to work. With the rain, etc, it takes me up to an hour.
Thabitha said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 10:33 AM
This is a big problem that we have to face every time when its ruining
Elektra said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 10:11 AM
Robots out due to rain, potholes, loath shedding, flooded High-Ways due to poor drainage system. It's just to much, about time something gets done about this. South Africa is going backwards NOT moving forward.
lucretia said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 09:45 AM
What blows my mind is the amount of potholes. Why are we using such inferior material for our roads. Potholes are fixed today and when it rains again, those same potholes rear their ugly heads, surely if we use quality material that should not happen? And yes, us South Africans are just accepting things the way they are. We need to stand up to lack of service and it needs to start from the top. The government needs to be changed!!!
Zelda said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 09:39 AM
it's bad enough that people all of a sudden don't know how to drive when it's raining, now there are traffic lights out of order, you can only use two of the three lanes provided, because when it rains, you are unable to see the potholes until you drive through one and your tire bursts. and if you drive in a lane with a pothole, you have to cut in front of someone to get into another lane otherwise you will never get to work.
It demotivates everyone, because when you finally get to work you are dead tired and when u get home in the evening, you have no personality as you are to tired to even eat or spend time with your family
Caron said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 09:08 AM
Potholes. Now that's a real problem! Every time it rains the very same potholes that were previously "fixed" re-appear with a vengeance causing absolute havoc and a cost to the already heavily ash strapped motorist.
Stephanie said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 08:46 AM
I can complain but I know it is not going to make anything better, all I can say it irritates me as well. Nothing we can do about it.
Bianca Els said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 08:40 AM
Leaving 05:30 and only get to work at 07:30 is very frustrating, not my idea of having fun... Now I understand why some people immigrate over sea!
Alexis said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 08:27 AM
I am so tired of this, nothing works in this city, on Sat alone - we had two Load Sheddings. It is really irritating and it makes you want to leave most of the time
david said:
on Tuesday 11-Mar-14 07:28 AM
i was trying to think of something amusing to say, but cannot. the situation is beyond a joke. sadly, come election time, the voters will reward the city managers, and put the very same useless people back.
Nicky said:
on Monday 10-Mar-14 05:59 PM
To make matters worse -its not only electricity problems and robots not working but potholes and deteriorating roads-if everything was maintained properly at the onset I doubt that there would be electricity problems; flooded roads;huge potholes etc. There should have always been a back-up plan for these type of situations.
Juliet said:
on Monday 10-Mar-14 05:58 PM
It is really infuriating. Mind-blowing lack of service delivery and negligence.
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
