The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has urged National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli to urgently investigate the unprecedented upsurge in public complaints about reckless behaviour by ministerial-vehicle convoys on the country’s roads.
”These complaints centre on the excessive speeds at which these convoys travel, alleged attempts to push others off the road, reckless overtaking manoeuvres and indiscriminate use of sirens and blue emergency lights,” IFP chief whip Koos van der Merwe said on Wednesday.
”In my opinion, all of the above is extremely dangerous and constitutes gross negligence and reckless endangerment,” he said in a statement.
In December last year, Van der Merwe lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor against Transport Minister Jeff Radebe’s speeding convey for disobeying traffic laws and causing danger to other road users.
”However, these reported incidents of lawless behaviour are a matter of national importance.
”Therefore, I am formally requesting the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] to investigate the allegations of illegal behaviour by the vehicle convoys of Minister Jeff Radebe and others, such as KwaZulu-Natal public works [provincial minister] Lydia Johnson.”
The IFP would once and for all appreciate clarity on the legal position of ministerial convoys relating to travelling at excessive speeds, using sirens and flashing lights indiscriminately, and pushing other motorists out of the way.
Van der Merwe urged Pikoli to conclude the necessary investigations swiftly and to inform him of what steps the NPA planned to take against ministerial and other convoys that clearly transgressed the traffic laws of South Africa.
”The NPA must prosecute offenders, irrespective of who they are,” he said. — Sapa