An incident, in which a VIP guard of KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Meshack Radebe shot out the tyre of a motorist on a busy highway, has angered opposition parties, with the Democratic Alliance calling for him to be dismissed.
PRIVATE PLAYGROUND FOR 'BLUE LIGHT' BANDITS The N3 highway in KZN - a gun-happy cop has shot out a tyre on a private bakkie, causing a crash that injured eight people, after its driver was slow to move out of the way of a "blue light" official car.
The DA's transport spokesperson Radley Keys said the DA was calling for Radebe's "immediate dismissal" and that: "The horrific incident concerns a member of Radebe's staff and he needs to take responsibility for it."
The Inkatha Freedom Party's provincial leader Lionel Mtshali said: "This attitude on the part of the MEC's staff clearly filters down from the top. The MEC's arrogance, not least in connection with the provincial government's security arrangements, is well known and well documented.
Nevertheless this last incident is indicative that the ANC government and its staff have crossed the line of acceptable behaviour."
Superintendent Henry Budhram said the policeman, (Constable Hlanganani Nxumalo, pictured left) who is part Radebe's VIP protection unit, is expected to appear in the Camperdown Magistrates Court on Monday, where he faces 12 charges of attempted murder.
A law unto themselves
On Saturday Budhram said a black Mazda that was heading towards Durban on Saturday morning was being followed by a police collision unit vehicle, when a black Volkswagen Golf with flashing blue lights sped up behind them.
The police vehicle pulled over to allow the Golf to pass, but "at that moment the driver of the Mazda could not pull over as he was passing a truck".
Budhram said that it is alleged that when the Mazda had then passed the truck and pulled over, a passenger in the Golf, which had dark tinted windows, opened the window and shot the tyre of the Mazda.
"The driver of the Mazda lost control and his vehicle went into the oncoming traffic colliding with a bakkie in the north-bound lane."
He said that the Golf sped off and the police's collision unit vehicle could not catch up with it and the officers decided to render assistance to the injured.
There were six people in the Mazda and six in the bakkie, eight of whom were injured. The police's dog unit recovered a spent cartridge.
Keys said the incident highlighted the "absolute arrogance" on the part of VIP members assigned to provide so-called protection to MECs in KZN.
"This latest incident shows their scant disregard for all other people on the road and is the worst display to date of the attitude displayed by blue light bullies" he said.
"They are a law unto themselves who treat citizens, their lives and property with absolute disregard. Clearly the ANC are not interested in providing a safe travel environment for South Africans."
The latest in a series of events
Mtshali said: "The users of blue lights are law unto themselves. This last incident demonstrates that the obsession with trappings of power within the provincial government and its staff will stop at nothing."
In May 2008, an angry motorcyclist punched a kwaZulu-Natal provincial VIP driver after the VIP driver crashed into the back of another car, seriously injuring its occupant, on the N3 near Camperdown.
In April 2007 the Natal Witness newspaper's switchboard was flooded with calls from drivers who said they were pushed off the N3 by a blue-light convoy, later identified as being that of now ANC president Jacob Zuma. The paper also reported at the time that a rifle had been aimed Pietermaritzburg man Faizel Mooideen and his family by security officers who had tried to push them off a lane on the highway.
Also in April 2007 a car driver used a cellphone to provide the newspaper with video of kwaZulu-Natal premier Sbu Ndebele's convoy doing 160km/h on the N3.
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