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- A new set of 'robots' takes over the job of directing traffic when the robots are out in Johannesburg.
- Silver is the colour of choice, instead of green, orange and red.
- The 'robots' said they enjoyed serving the community.
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
When Johannesburg's robots are out, a new set of robots takes over to help keep the traffic flowing.
These robots don't show green, orange or red – silver is the colour of choice for Bhukumuzi Masinga, Thulani Mahlangu and Jama Mpofu.
Through much of the day, the three men work as performers on the road, dressed as robots. But rather than sitting idle when the lights go out, as they often do across Johannesburg, the three colleagues spring into action to direct traffic at the intersection where they are operating.
When News24 caught up with them, they were working at the intersection of William Nicol Drive and Jan Smuts Avenue, right next to the Hyde Park Corner shopping mall.
Masinga said he is trained as an electrician, but has been at the robots while he has been out of work.
"I just come to the robots and help my community," said Masinga.
He said that he often saw people fighting when the traffic lights were out, and he hoped that he was able to prevent these situations from arising by jumping in to help.
"I want to see our community safe, everyone safe, no fights, no shouting or what-what. Everyone safe, that is my main point," said Masinga.
He said he was not sure exactly how often the traffic lights were off because he was not always stationed at the same robot, and was not always there to see whether the lights were on or off.
Mahlangu said he thought the frequency of traffic light outages had eased compared to recent months.
"These days it's not that bad – you will find them going out once a day for two hours. Unlike before, it takes almost a day... especially this one, it wasn't working at all, so we were here almost the whole day," said Mahlangu.
He said he had been working as a performer since 2006 and grew up in Mpumalanga before coming to Gauteng.
He said he met his colleagues at a boxing gym.
Mahlangu said they received mixed reactions from members of the public in response to the work they do.
"I feel so happy, because some of them appreciate what you are doing, though some don't like what we are doing because this is a road and it's not safe," said Mahlangu.
Despite this, he said he really enjoyed doing it.
"I do love what I am doing, as you can see, we are trying to help the community with what we are doing."
He said he was unemployed, and so were his colleagues, so he was grateful for the opportunity to earn money while serving the community.
"All of us are not working, we are unemployed. We eat here. When you come here, at least you get something."
Mpofu did not want to comment officially to News24, but was keen to point out that he had a Facebook page - named 'Silver Man' - where he featured content from his performances.
Watch the video above for more.
