MEC for Provincial Planning and Finance regrets the occurrence of the 21 February 2013, wherein the state vehicle was involved in a car accident whilst in his possession.
It is a very unfortunate occurrence that the MEC has been involved in a car accident. Given his punctuality and his consideration of time, he hoped to meet the body guard/ driver in our Provincial Planning and Treasury office in Norvia House, East London, hence he was driving.
The MEC is a licenced driver and he holds the licence by law. Chapter 5 (S. 1.3) of the Ministerial Handbook allows members to utilise official vehicles allocated to them at the expense of the State for any reasonable purpose. State official vehicles and SAPS VIP Drivers/Protectors may be allocated to members and are made available for official purposes and in the interest of security.
The damages of the car will unfortunately cost the department an amount of R2 500.00 as the excess fee. The car is insured to cushion expenditure in occurrences of this nature. Section 1.1.2 of the Ministerial Handbook provides that the respective department will carry the financial implications in terms of procuring and insuring official vehicles.
Circumstances of this nature are unfortunate to happen and are unavoidable and the fortunate part of this particular occurrence is that no fatalities happened.
