/ 11 March 2009

Taxi drivers escape metro officers’ clutches

Eight taxi drivers jumped out of a Johannesburg metro police vehicle shortly after being arrested along with 16 others for violating traffic rules on Wednesday, police said.

Nabbed on Plein street in the Johannesburg CBD, the taxi drivers’ arrests brought to 46 the number of drivers arrested on Wednesday morning, said Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.

”One of those who escaped was re-arrested after he handed himself over,” he said.

”The arrests formed part of operation Nomakanjani (No matter what), an operation to arrest reckless motorists who did not give right of way to pedestrians, drove into oncoming traffic and skipped red traffic lights,” Minnaar said.

Seventy-two people had been arrested since its inception on Monday, including the 46 arrested on Wednesday morning.

”Operation Nomakanjani is going very well. We are not only targeting taxi drivers. We view all drivers in the same way and they are all expected to obey the rule of law,” he said.

The arrested drivers were expected to appear in court soon and their vehicles had been impounded. — Sapa