What should’ve been a normal trip to the licensing department turned into a threatening situation for a Loumarina resident.
Jeanine Stiglingh, 44, claimed that on Thursday, September 16, she went to the traffic department to renew her vehicle licence, check if her son’s details were on the system for his learner’s licence and if they could book a test for him.
“I went to the offices where the eye tests are done. A gentleman was sitting at a table, one guy was helping me and behind me to my left a woman was sitting in a chair.”
She claimed the group all started speaking in a language she didn’t understand and but picked up the word Covid-19 implying she had the virus.
“I said to the woman I wouldn’t have come if I knew I had tested positive nor would I make an excuse why we couldn’t do my son’s original learner’s test on a particular day – all I was trying to do was book another learner’s appointment. She continued to speak in a language I didn’t understand. I then turned around and told her to stop talking nonsense and asked if she was calling me a liar. Her answer was ‘yes, you are a liar’,” Stiglingh claimed.
“She then pushed my arm like she was saying ‘who the hell do you think you are?’ I shouldn’t have but I retaliated and sort of wacked her hand off me. She raised her voice and said I had assaulted her. I told her to please go get the police and let them come and see what was happening.
“She spoke non-stop and said to me she wanted my details. I told her I wasn’t giving her anything so she tried to take my cellphone from the guy who was busy getting the information off our account. Then she said she didn’t need my cellphone to get the information, she would just get my son’s details. I asked her what she was trying to say, and she replied: ‘You don’t need to worry because I’ll make sure your son gets it’.”
According to Jeanine, she asked the woman if she was threatening her and she replied that she worked there and could get all information she needed from the system to make life difficult for her.
“I told her to rather go to the police station and lay an assault charge. She carried on threatening that she was going to do something to my son which slightly provoked me. I told her to take my ID and do whatever she wanted but she needed to leave my child out of it.”
Jeanine said she tried to take her ID but the woman refused to give it and told Jeanine to go and fetch it.
“She started pushing me towards the wall and I told her to give me my ID. She threw it across the floor and threaten me, saying ‘You should be very careful because when your son does come to write his learners, I am going to make sure I get him’.”
Jeanine took that as a serious threat and went to the police station to lay an assault charge against the woman.
However, when she went back to the licensing department’s main office to report the woman and lay a complaint, she was told that no one by that name worked there. She also went back to the area where she last saw the woman was but no one had an idea to whom she was referring.
Luckily, Jeanine wasn’t injured, but she felt very frustrated that someone with authority could intimidate and threaten the public.
“I feel unsafe and my son needs to do his learners as well as driver’s licence. She also threatened to hurt him and has all my personal information. To me it was about standing up for myself and my child. The days of constantly keeping quiet while people just do what they want are over.”
Randfontein Police spokesperson Sergeant Carmen Hendricks confirmed that a case of common assault had indeed been opened.
The Rand West City Traffic Department then referred the Herald to the Rand West City Local Municipality for comment. Their spokesperson Phillip Montshiwa said, “On our side, we are doing some investigations as to what really transpired”. He added that they could not disclose what the woman’s colleagues said they had witnessed “… because the matter is now in the court”.
