Paul Kirk
Road-hogs and speedsters in the up-market Umhlanga area of Durban have had nearly R1-million worth of speeding tickets quashed in less than two years.
Now municipal investigators from the Durban Metro Council are investigating whether the crime of defeating the ends of justice has been committed and are probing one of their top cops.
The investigation came about when the head of the Metro Police, Director Henry Manzi, became suspicious of diminishing fine revenues.
Umhlanga is home and holiday home to some of South Africa’s wealthiest people.
Tasked with investigating the disappearing fines, Inspector Craig de la Mare collected all the tickets that had been cancelled and discovered they had all been quashed by a colleague.
Normally the power to withdraw charges rests with the prosecuting authorities not the police.
Nearly all the fines were those issued to people who live in Umhlanga a small residential area.
While the head of the Metro council’s forensic audit section, Murray Stewart, was not prepared to comment on the probe he has confirmed the case is under investigation by his office.
The matter first came to light when De la Mare discovered an Umhlanga resident had allegedly paid to have a drunk driving docket “disappear”.
He investigated, found this to be the case, and reconstructed the docket by going back to the original witnesses and having them give new statements. He issued a summons to the resident.
Through his wife, De la Mare declined to comment on his case at all.
Manzi was not available for comment. However his office said it regards the issue of the disappearing fines very seriously.
Titus Malaza, the executive director of emergency services, told the Mail & Guardian that there is more than R115-million in traffic fines outstanding in the Durban Metro.