Timeslive reports that on the eve of Easter weekend the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) transport department is scrambling to ensure that Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) officials will be patrolling freeways at night.  

This follows a Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) directive in February that overtime pay be limited to 30% of an employee's salary.  Claude Naicker of the Public Servants Association (PSA) commented:  "This will have severe consequences as officials will only be able to patrol roads for a certain period.  So after 10pm until about 6am there will be no RTI officials on the roads."  Operations at various testing stations on Saturdays might also be affected.  According to Naicker, the KZN transport department has the power to exempt the RTI officials from the directive, “yet just days before Easter we still do not have a clear indication if the overtime cap of 30% will be removed to ensure that officials will be able to execute their duties to the full extent."  The PSA apparently engaged the department some time ago about this matter.  Naicker indicated that traffic officers would not work more than their required overtime without a legitimate contract stating that they would get paid for it.  The department is apparently in the process of writing a letter to DPSA Minister to exempt traffic officers from the directive.

• Read this report by Nivashni Nair in full at Timeslive

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