Arrogant leaders are a menace
2007-05-07 09:46
Jon Qwelane
The arrogance of KwaZulu-Natal's MEC for transport, Bheki Cele, is astonishing.
Cele wants driving in excess of legal speed limits recognised as constituting an emergency, if one (that means a politician) is late for a meeting.
The arrogant MEC even has the gall to threaten a member of the public who had the courage to follow and photograph a speeding convoy, travelling at least at 160km/h on the N3 freeway. He threatens that the citizen will be arrested for "using his cellphone while driving", and he also threatens The Witness, the Maritzburg newspaper which printed the pictures.
Says the senior man supposed to ensure compliance with, and not breaking of, transport regulations: "The newspaper will be prosecuted if it continues to assist the lawbreaker". This, referring to the paper's refusal to disclose its informant's particulars.
And this is exactly the problem with us in this country: we have elevated these people very high, to a rank just below the angels, and as a result they believe themselves to be completely untouchable and not to be subjected to the laws, regulations and standards of normal human behaviour which guide all of us.
"Because I am black..."
When KZN premier Sbu Ndebele was confronted recently by an elderly motorist whom his motorcade had zoomed past with breath-taking speed to the funeral of historian David Rattray, Ndebele at first made what seemed like reasonable and polite utterances.
Just as suddenly, he lapsed into the old and tired fashion of claiming his (white) accuser was confronting him "because I am black".
To his credit, the accuser stood his ground and refused to be sidetracked or intimidated, pointing out that what he had seen was an act of reckless driving and lawbreaking. Ndebele was off to a funeral, and that could not be an emergency.
The menace, for menace it is, of cowboy politicians' motorcades have also been raised in the national assembly by Inkatha Freedom Party MP Koos van der Merwe when he asked questions about the speeding convoy of transport minister Jeff Radebe.
It is disgusting that it is the very people, Cele and his national boss Radebe, who are themselves setting such a poor example for the public. In effect, Cele is providing ample example of the abuse of state office to which he and his cronies are prone; no one needs to doubt it anymore that certain powerful people abuse the law and organs of state.
I take my hat off to the editors of The Witness for refusing to give in to blackmail. I wish the country had more such editors with real balls.
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