/ 1 May 2013

Metro police claim MP tried to flee

Arts and Culture portfolio committee chairperson Thandile Babalwa Sunduza.
Arts and Culture portfolio committee chairperson Thandile Babalwa Sunduza.

Metro police spokesperson Edna Mamonyane told the newspaper on Wednesday that arts and culture portfolio committee chairperson Thandile Babalwa Sunduza, was lying about the incident.

Mamonyane said police were conducting a stop-and-search operation at Grayston drive and Katherine street in Sandton on Friday when they saw Sunduza.

"Ms Sunduza was busy on her cellphone. When they stopped her she just drove away."

Mamonyane said an officer managed to catch up with Sunduza and blocked her car with his bakkie. She then tried to drive away and touched the corner of the bakkie, scratching her car.

"She was charged for using a cellphone while driving," she said.

Sunduza denied Mamonyane's version of the incident and said metro police could get her cellphone records to see if she was talking on the phone.

She told the newspaper earlier in the week she thought she was being hijacked when metro police officials confronted her.

After telling them she would park her car to avoid blocking traffic, Sunduza reportedly said she "heard a big bang" and realised a metro vehicle had crashed into her car.

"It was traumatic… The female officers were calling me 'isifebe' [a "whore"] and a dog," she said.

She said she was threatened with arrest for talking on her cellphone while driving, but claimed both her cellphones were in the car boot at the time. – Sapa