Department official nabbed for tractor theft speaks out

A GOVERNMENT official who was arrested in connection with the theft of tractors belonging to the KZN Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) has spoken out.

According to the official in question, based at Inkosi Owen Sithole College of Agriculture (OSCA), facts were misrepresented about what transpired upon his arrest last Thursday.

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He said he suspects personal vendettas concocted by senior officials in the department to get rid of him at the institution.

“I was driving my car when an unbranded vehicle stopped me near the Ethembeni Care Centre in KwaMbonambi. Two male traffic cops alighted from the vehicle, while a tractor that was behind me overtook and came to a dead stop, its driver jumping off and vanishing in front of everyone,” said the man, who asked not to be named.

“The traffic cops asked if I was working at OSCA, which I confirmed to them through my persal number. They then called SAPS officers, who arrived with two other individuals. From then I was asked to drive the abandoned tractor in front of us, which I refused to do.

“I was directed to the passenger seat in the police van and we headed to KwaMbonambi Police Station where I was shoved into a holding cell.

“I spent an hour-and-a-half there, and the police came to notify me of my rights and gave me a charge sheet for being in possession of suspected stolen property. From there I was taken to another cell where I spent 15 hours and was released the following day without any bail or court appearance,” he said.

The man said this ordeal has caused him great inconvenience, with his car still in the possession of the SAPS, together with the tractor, while awaiting documentation for its release.

In an official media statement issued soon after the arrest, DARD MEC Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa said the quick thinking of the departmental senior official within King Cetshwayo, who reported the matter to the traffic police of uMfolozi Municipality, resulted in the interception of the tractor in the Sokhulu area, which is 27km from where the official claimed to have been stopped.

DARD head of communications Vusi Zuma told the ZO on Thursday that the department stands by its statement and had no intention of misleading the community.

He further noted that the pictures of tractors on the department’s official Facebook page were not the stolen ones, but pictures from departmental archives, as the official had challenged the department, saying OSCA did not own any tractors of that kind.

“The tractor was indeed stolen; we trust the law will run its course,” said Zuma.

King Cetshwayo Cluster police spokesperson Captain Siyanda Shangase confirmed that KwaMbonambi SAPS were investigating a case of possession of stolen property.

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