Malema pulls blue light stunt
2009-11-04 22:38
Marietie Louw-Carstens
Polokwane - The driver of the car in which Julius Malema was stopped in Limpopo recently, reportedly placed a blue light on the car's roof after traffic officers signalled to him to pull over. They were doing 107km/h in a 60km/h zone.
A reliable source told Beeld that the ANC Youth League president and his driver were in a silver Range Rover on October 14. Malema went to his home town, Seshego, on that day to hand over a house to needy people.
At about 10:00 he and his driver were on their way back from Seshego to Polokwane when a team of nine traffic officers signalled them to pull off the road.
The driver reportedly stopped the car in the middle of the road, flashed the lights and then placed a blue light on the roof.
Called MEC
City Press reported on Sunday that Malema phoned Limpopo's Roads and Transport MEC, Pinky Kekana, among others, after being pulled over.
Malema apparently said to the traffic officers: "Who do you think you are? Don't you know that I am Julius, president of the ANCYL?"
One of the traffic officers, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation, said on Wednesday, "The incident definitely took place."
This after a denial by Ntau Letebele, head of the Limpopo roads and transport department, that it happened.
"It never happened, so why would one want to institute a disciplinary investigation?" he asked Beeld on Monday.
Letter confirms incident
On Wednesday, Beeld saw a letter sent to the traffic officers by MR Makhubela, the acting station commander of Polokwane's provincial traffic office, on the day of the incident.
The subject of the letter is "Incident that occurred today (14 Oct) in Seshego".
It continues: "Officers as indicated above carried out (speed) law enforcement at Seshego and something occurred at that moment with regard to the ANCYL president."
The names of all nine traffic officers are known to Beeld.
Makhubela ordered all the officers named in the letter, which he signed, to submit written statements saying exactly what happened, before 14:00 on October 14 when their shift ended.
Makhubela on Wednesday denied sending the letter.
"We have procedures that are confidential. We are not supposed to make any information known to the newspapers." He said the traffic department is investigating the incident.
No one above the law
Deputy Transport Minister Jeremy Cronin told Parliament on Tuesday that no one is above the law and that the matter will be investigated.
Malema did not answer either of his two cellphones on Wednesday and did not respond to Beeld’s messages.
Limpopo police spokesperson Superintendent Ronel Otto said that according to the law, only police and traffic vehicles were allowed to use blue lights.
Johan Burger, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said that when a VIP is transported, the police VIP protection unit will have blue lights, but not the car carrying the VIP.
According to Beeld's source, Malema's driver is not a member of the police and the car was not part of a convoy.
- Beeld