MEDIA STATEMENT

TREATMENT OF HEAD OF TRANSPORT UNFAIR

Usually, a prosecution is promoted through investigation where the necessary evidence is placed in a police docket and forwarded to the relevant senior state prosecutor for a decision as to whether to initiate a prosecution and to formulate the charge or charges.

In this case, however, the promotion of the prosecution has been conducted through the media due to media statements, apparently issued by Mr. Trevor Andrews, a traffic officer in the employ of the Mooi River Municipality.

Interestingly, these media statements have not emanated from the Mooi River Council but from Mr. Andrews, apparently through the facilitation of local politicians allied to the Democratic Alliance.

Usually during the investigation stage, any criminal matter is considered to be sub-judice and not open for public discussion. However, due to the circumstances surrounding these unsubstantiated allegations, it is now necessary to respond to the allegations, for this is all they are, in order to provide clarity on this matter.

Despite various media allegations, it has not yet been clearly stated that Dr. Mbanjwa was not driving the car at the time of the alleged incident. I have in my possession a sworn affidavit from a Senior Provincial Inspector from RTI, who was in fact driving the escorted vehicle on the day in question. The affidavit will be provided to the Senior State Prosecutor at Mooi River with a covering letter from me. Sufficient to say that the Senior Provincial Inspector, who is appointed as a traffic officer and a peace officer in terms of the Road Traffic Act and Criminal Procedure Act respectively, is also in the employ of the Road Traffic Inspectorate, and is a member of my staff, who is therefore in the execution of his duties exempt from the certain provisions of the Road Traffic Acts, Act 29 of 1989 and Act 93 of 1996.

Here follows a verbatim extract from the Road Traffic Act, Act 93 of 1996.

Section 60:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of section 59, the driver of a fire fighting vehicle, a rescue vehicle or an ambulance who drives such a vehicle in the carrying out of his or her duties, a traffic officer who drives a vehicle in the carrying out of his or her duties or any person driving a vehicle while engaged in civil protection as contemplated in any ordinance made in  terms of section 3 of the civil Protection Act, 1977 (Act no. 67 of 1977) may exceed the applicable general speed limit".

Section 74 of the Road Traffic Act, Act 29 of 1989 presumes that officers acted correctly unless otherwise proven through a process of, for instance, investigation or cross examination in a court of law. The section indicates further that the officer*s actions shall be prima facie proof of his appointment and authority to act.

The N3 at Mooi River is subject to a general speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour and section 60, as quoted above, provides that a traffic officer (or police officer) may, while driving any vehicle in the execution of his or her duties, exceed that or any other general speed limit without risk of prosecution. Detectives in the employ of the SAPS and officials of  other government enforcement agencies are not pursued, or as in this case, hounded by the media when they legitimately and in the public interest, exceed the prescribed speed limits. Indeed, there is a public expectation that in emergencies help will arrive as soon as possible. Hence, in responding to the bus accident at Kokstad last Thursday, I proceeded there with all haste and exceeded the speed limit.

Why then has Dr. Mbanjwa been singled out for such special treatment by traffic officer Andrews? Why did Andrews not contact me directly and why has he and his puppeteers concluded incorrectly that Dr. Mbanjwa was driving the car at the time of the alleged incident? If Andrews had ascertained the facts before rushing off to the media, he might just have had sufficient time to ponder the applicability of the Road Traffic Act and not gone to the trouble of opening a docket at the Mooi River SAPS, without confirming the identity of the driver. Mr. Andrews has unfortunately jumped to a conclusion and now may well find himself at the edge of a precipice, as by implication he has set out to defame a much respected Head of Department, which is simply unacceptable and un- professional considering Dr. Mbanjwa's status in this community and in the province.

What may be of further interest and worthy of further discussion is why Traffic Officer Andrews and his team where busy with speed timing operations on the lucrative N3 rather than applying their resources, often cited as limited, on the R103 which is clearly within their area of jurisdiction and which road is often in the news through inputs from his local councillors when heavy motor vehicles are reported on that road from Mooi River to Rosetta (R103).

Traffic Officer Andrews needs to reconsider his allegations in the light of the facts presented in this statement. He also needs to be aware that if he continues with this prosecution, we will engage the services of the State Attorney: KwaZulu-Natal to provide defence for our officer who is not going to be offered up on the altar of political expedience.

Further, a number of transport-related civic structures such as our Road Safety Councils and others have been established throughout the province and they all have Dr. Mbanjwa's cell phone number. Also, Dr. Mbanjwa's cell phone number appears on our official departmental website. Members of the public often contact him directly and there is also the Mpimpa hotline that people phone all the time. He is constantly being fed information, so it was not unusual to get a call from the woman. The Department has many eyes and ears.

For the past two years, as per information from the National Intelligence Agency, Dr. Mbanjwa's life has been under threat because of the tough stance he has taken in trying to regulate the taxi industry.

Finally as a former employee of RTI, I would have expected a better, more mature and balanced response from Traffic Officer Andrews.

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