KZN COGTA slams concerted effort to discredit MEC on traffic violations
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for COGTA Nomusa Dube-Ncube notes with growing concern the concerted effort to portray her as a habitual violator of traffic rules.
Tomorrow slanderous reports planted by bad elements in the police will appear in the media in a vein less effort to portray the MEC as a speedster and a blue light fanatic. It would appear that rogue elements within the law enforcement establishment are on the campaign to tarnish the image of public representatives ahead of the 2014 elections.
This follows a highly publicised incident in which the MEC’s car was pulled on the roadside in a military-style approach, with over 15 gun-toting policemen comprising of various units within the South African Police Service (SAPS) pointing fire arms at the MEC's car and ordering her police VIP protectors to get off and lie down.
While the explanation later given by the police on their heavy-handed operation which also involved the mobilisation of ambulance services, was that they were conducting highway patrol and were doing routine checks because of high incidents of crime in which criminals impersonate policemen and flash blue lights, the MEC, although traumatised, trusted in the bona fides of the police and allowed them to do their work without interference, appreciating the conditions and the sophisticated manner in which criminals operate at times.
The car which belong to the Dube-Ncube family, was being driven by MEC’s support staff on the return trip as the VIP officer indicated his unfitness (due to ill-health) to drive whilst still at Indaka Municipality. After a suspicious vehicle followed the MEC’s car for a distance of over 60KM, the entourage decided to flash the blue light as a warning.
However, it later became a concern to the MEC when she was approached by the media with reports that police had informed the media that the MEC was speeding. It was indicated to the media that no traffic fines were issued or traffic related transgressions were cited as reasons for the MEC's entourage being pulled off to the roadside. It was also pointed out that the MEC entourage had passed a number of traffic officers conducting speed timing operations and none stopped them.
In a latest twist, the MEC has once again been approached by the media claiming to be in possession of dubious evidence purported to be from BBM messenger services, what is even more bizarre is that extrapolation and assumptions of alleged speeding and reckless driving are being put forward as opposed to genuine and concrete evidence. Even more disturbing are the insinuations that the concocted evidence is information from "reliable police sources”.
While the incident had been interpreted by the MEC as mundane day-to-day crime prevention work by the police, the latest developments in which police are linked to sustaining the incident in the media which involves fishing expeditions to manufacture evidence so that the MEC can be found guilty by all accounts in the court of public opinion is indeed worrying.
If certain laws were violated the police ought to have acted accordingly since the MEC never interfered with their work as she subscribe to the belief that all are equal before the law.
With the history of the role of the police during the apartheid era and the latest incidents in which a few rotten elements still thrive on using the old order dirty tricks within the police, it is not far-fetched to conclude that rogue policemen are using the media to target and tarnish the image of public representatives.
The MEC is now viewing the latest developments in a serious light and is up-scaling the matter to the police authorities in the Province and nationally.
It must be pointed out that the MEC does not drive her own vehicle but is driven by a SAPS VIP unit allocated to her for security purposes. The members of this unit determine the MEC's travel arrangements according to their own assessment of the MEC's security and work requirements.
If traffic fines are occasionally incurred by the MEC's vehicles, all due amounts are promptly paid. No fines for any of the MEC's official vehicles are ever outstanding. Also the traffic fines are incurred for a number of routine engagements including collecting the MEC, collecting the car for service etc. At times the tickets are for driving at 45KM/h in a 40KM zone. This is the context that must be taken into account and the fact that the MEC has no outstanding traffic fines as she always insist that those who commit them must pay them timeously. This attitude must be commended.
It is also of growing concern to the MEC that information regarding an alleged speeding incident continues to be fed to the media by what appear to be individuals with unprecedented access to police records.
This is a clear violation by a third party of the security arrangements the SAPS and its VIP unit have entered into between the MEC and the police as well as trust between the two parties.
The MEC wishes to make it clear that she cooperates with the SAPS VIP unit allocated to her at all times and relies on the unit's integrity in assessing her security arrangements.
For more information contact:
KZN COGTA spokesperson
Lennox Mabaso
Cell: 082 884 2403
