MEC washes hands of blue light bully

2008-11-17 00:13

Thando Mgaga and Bheki Mbanjwa

Pietermaritzburg - KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Meshack Radebe has washed his hands of an incident in which one of his police bodyguards shot out the tyre of a moving car on the N3.

The car veered into the opposite lane, crashing head-on with a bakkie.

Eight people were injured.

The bodyguard, who is facing charges of attempted murder, will appear in the Camperdown Magistrate's Court on Monday.

It is believed the policeman was trying to bully the driver of the car into the slow lane.

When approached for comment by The Witness newspaper at the Camperdown police station where the suspect had been taken, Radebe said he didn't know anything about the incident.

He said he'd gone to the police station to get a briefing about what happened.

"I don't know anything about the incident.

"I was at home.

"They were coming to pick me up as I was to accompany Premier Sibusiso Ndebele on the disaster assessment visit to the Molweni area.

"I am not involved. The police will handle the matter."

Conflict with journalists

An altercation then ensued between the Witness team and the MEC's bodyguards and members of the SAPS.

Two Witness journalists were prevented from posing further questions to Radebe and threatened with arrest.

Witness photographer Shan Pillay was forced to delete photographs he had taken of the MEC, his bodyguards and other police in the station's parking lot.

The police said the journalists had no right to be at the police station.

It emerged last week that Radebe has private security guards in addition to his VIP protection unit bodyguards.

The IFP alleged that the bodyguard involved in Saturday's incident is from the private security company, but provided no proof.

The police said he is with the VIP unit.

The incident has led to renewed condemnation of the behaviour of ministerial bodyguards and convoys on the province's roads.

Police spokesperson Henry Budhram condemned the indicent.

"The SAPS is a professional organisation and expects its members to act and behave professionally at all times."

'We were airborne for a few seconds'

Budhram said the policeman was travelling to pick up the MEC in a black Volkswagen Golf attached to the police's VIP unit.

He said the car came up behind a police collision unit car that was behind the Mazda and forced it to pull into the slow lane, but because the Mazda was passing a truck, it could not imediately pull over.

When it did, the bodyguard leaned out of the SAPS Golf and fired at the car's tyres.

Police found one expended bullet head at the scene, said Budhram, adding that the policeman later handed himself over to the police at the Camperdown police station.

Niveshan Munsamy, 17, who was in the Mazda said the policeman had fired two shots at their tyres.

"I think the first shot missed and the second one made us lose control.

"The car crossed the island and we were airborne for a few seconds and the car landed on the other side of the freeway and we collided with a van," he said.

Transport MEC Bheki Cele on Sunday condemned the incident and the behaviour of the policeman.

He said initial investigations revealed that the policeman was handed over for arrest by Radebe.

"As government it is our duty to defend the law, we cannot tolerate bad behaviour from anyone," said Cele.

He has in the past criticised those who have drawn attention to the behaviour of blue light convoys.

- The Witness