VIP cop to remain in custody
2008-11-17 14:14
Pietermaritzburg - A member of the VIP protection team of a KwaZulu-Natal MEC appeared briefly in the Camperdown Magistrate's Court on eight attempted murder charges on Monday.
Police Constable Hlanganani Nxumalo, 28, was told he would remain in custody until his next court appearance on November 19.
Nxumalo, 28, of the Alexandra Road police barracks in Pietermaritzburg, allegedly shot out the tyre of a Mazda on the N3 near Camperdown on Saturday morning. The driver lost control of the car, veered into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with a bakkie. There were six people in each car. Eight of them were injured.
On Monday Nxumalo silently faced a barrage of press photographers. His light brown shoes were without laces and he was handcuffed as soon as he left the dock. No evidence was led as the State needed time to investigate the charges against him.
Car did not pull over
According to the charge sheet, the driver of the Mazda was Angivansen Moodley and his passenger Nireshen Moonsmay. The driver of the bakkie was Nundlall Singh. The other passengers were named as Naresh Dookie, Joseph and Roman Magugula, Louis Manic and Mzambusi Ngubane.
According to police spokesperson Superintendent Henry Budhram the Mazda was heading towards Durban on Saturday morning and was being followed by a police collision unit vehicle. A black Volkswagen Golf with flashing blue lights sped up behind them.
The police vehicle pulled over to allow the Golf to pass, but "at that moment the driver of the Mazda could not pull over as he was passing a truck".
When the Mazda had passed the truck and pulled over, a passenger in the Golf, which had tinted windows, allegedly opened the window and shot out one of the Mazda's tyres.
Political parties in the province condemned the incident. On Sunday the Democratic Alliance called for the resignation of the province's social development MEC Meshack Radebe.
Nxumalo was a part of Radebe's VIP unit. Radebe was not there when the incident took place.
In May, an angry motorcyclist punched a KwaZulu-Natal provincial VIP driver after the driver crashed into the back of another car, seriously injuring its occupant on the N3 near Camperdown.
In April 2007 the Witness newspaper reported that its switchboard was flooded with calls from motorists who said they had been pushed off the N3 by a blue-light convoy, identified as being that of ANC president Jacob Zuma.
It also reported at the time that a Pietermaritzburg man, Faizel Mooideen, had a rifle pointed at him and his family by security officers who tried to push them out of a lane on the highway.
At the end of the same month a motorist used his cellphone to record video footage of KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele's convoy doing 160km/h on the N3.
- SAPA