Mayor Parks Tau and
the City of Johannesburg showed clear and decisive leadership in the
crisis that snarled the highway — one of South Africa’s busiest roads — at peak
hour. Points people were deployed to all major intersections, travel on
Gautrain buses was free and even Uber was drafted to help clear the
clogged roads.
Above all, Tau communicated, he communicated again and then he communicated some more.
Civil engineering company Murray & Roberts’ CEO Henry Laas could
have used social media to respond to the recent bridge collapse on the
M1 highway in Johannesburg. Picture: ARNOLD PRONTO
He
did so with compassion for the victims, while reassuring residents that
the roads would reopen as soon as possible and an investigation would
probe the cause of the collapse. The City tweeted constant updates to
its 183,000 followers.
