Annicia Reddiar
STEPHEN Corry’s efforts to convince his men — former Umkhonto weSizwe soldiers, now employees of his security firm — to trust and work with the police were dealt a blow this week when one of the firm’s vans was allegedly stripped of parts by crooked policemen.
The van was recovered by the flying squad on Sunday after two employees of the firm, Trans-Sizwe, abandoned it in Soweto during a fracas with taxi drivers. The vehicle was stripped of parts in Soweto’s Diepkloof police vehicle storage yard within 20 minutes of its arrival there, Corry charged this week.
He said taxi drivers had forced the van, in which two of his employees had been driving, off the road. An argument ensued and guns were pulled on them.
The Trans-Sizwe men fled the scene and reported the incident to the police, who found the vehicle and took it to their storage yard in Diepkloof.
He said Trans-Siwze employees arrived at the storage yard 20 minutes after the vehicle had been taken there by the flying squad. They found the engine still warm – – proof the police had driven it there — but the radio and engine parts, including the carburettor and distributor, were missing.
Corry charged it was clear police were responsible, and said his men had also seen policemen in uniforms loading spare parts into vehicles.
“It’s taken almost two years to convince (my employees) that we must be working with the police. My employees are saying that from 1980 to 1990 we should have dealt with these people because they were sell-outs then and they’re sell-outs now.”
Soweto police liaison officer Major Govindsamy Mariemuthoo acknowledged this week that parts theft was a problem at the yard. “We have had various complaints in this regard from members of the public.”
He said charges have been laid against policemen in similar cases and that they had been suspended from