Are police using vehicles as taxis?

On Tuesday, a concerned motorist in Ladysmith (who asked not to be named) was shocked when he saw a policeman opening the back of his police vehicle and 3 women tumbling out the back of the van, grabbing handbags and shopping bags.

The driver of the vehicle, a police officer in full uniform, helped the ladies to disembark and then gratefully accepted payment for giving them a lift.

According to the eyewitness, he could clearly see one woman give the policeman a R10 note.

The women, who were all well dressed, were obviously passengers and not criminals being released from the back of the police van. It would really not matter whether he was paid for his services or not; the fact that he used a state vehicle to transport three unidentified women is shocking indeed.

Comment by police spokesperson Captain Charmaine Struwig

“We only became aware of their concerns and the existence of the video clip after we read about it in the Ladysmith Gazette on Thursday, 26 November 2015.  A copy of the video clip was only sent to us after we approached the Ladysmith Gazette and enquired about the article and its contents.

The video clip has been viewed, but many questions pertaining to the incident remain unanswered. A sincere appeal is made to the author of the video clip to make contact with the Uthukela Cluster Commander, Brigadier Reynders, at 036-638-2583 or Captain Struwig at 036-638-3335. To enable us to lodge a disciplinary investigation into the incident, we would require a statement from the author of the video clip and access to the original footage.”

The big question which has not been answered by the police, despite it being asked is: “Had the driver of the police vehicle been involved in an accident and the three women had been injured, what would have happened?” They would have sued the Minister of Police and the cost to the taxpayer would have been astronomical.

Forget payments, what this officer did was wrong, period!