On August 5 at around 9:40am my 60-year-old sister was stopped by a metro police officer at the Marievale Military Base.
Within 20 seconds after he stopped her he declared that all her tyres were not complying with the law and that he must issue a R1 200 fine.
What this officer did not know is that at the time of this stoppage my sister was in conversation with me on her cellphone by means of a hands free system. I overheard the officer asked her: “Now what must I do now?”
This was a leading question and clearly aimed at soliciting a bribe from her? When she explained to him that she had been to a reputable tyre dealer just a week ago and that the dealer informed her the tyres were still good for another few months, he got aggressive and demanded she get out the car.
He then, after she told him that she is a pensioner and cannot afford the fine, told her that she must go and get him a cool drink!
She then demanded to see his name, which he did not display, and he refused to identify himself. It was only him and a female officer there.
My sister suffers from depression, due to a house robbery about 10 years ago. This incident has affected her immensely and she was petrified to go out again, especially as this thug threatened her that he will be there every day to stop her!
I immediately took steps to go and check her tyres. I was a traffic officer for 15 years so I guess I’m fully equipped to realise when a tyre is not complying with the law or not.
I found, after a thorough inspection, one of her tyres to be still legal but on the borderline. The rest were fine.
The officer, so I’m told by my sister, merely kicked the tyres. He did not even bend down and inspect the insides of the wheels!
Concerned resident
* The incident occurred on August 5 and yet it is only reported 15 days down the line – any good reason for that?
Granted, the complainant claims the officer involved did not display his name tag and allegedly refused to give his name, in the circumstances the complainant apparently made no effort to jot down the registration number or anything that could facilitate locating the alleged culprits apart from saying it was a male and a female officer – was it really difficult to just jot down the registration number?
From the explanation the whole saga must have lasted over 10 minutes – time enough for the complainant to have gathered information that could help us to have a clue as to where to start – why was no such effort made?
We must be aware that any person can say anything about officers and expect us to summarily act against our officers without them not being prepared to go all the way in terms of the processes that have to take place before a verdict can be passed – let the complainant come forward so that claims can be tested to enable us to take appropriate and necessary action – can he do this urgently?
Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago
EMPD spokesman
