ONE FOR THE ROAD
DRIVER'S LICENCES
Baleka
Mbete Kgositsile, deputy Speaker of Parliament, is one of 44 people
being investigated by Mpumalanga's detectives for being in possession of
a fraudulent car driver's licence. However, Kgositsile claims she was legally
issued with a licence after being given special treatment, as she is "a
very busy person with children scatterd all over the country, a job in
Cape town and a constituency in Kwazulu. I don't have time to stand in
queues. I am not required to stand in queues at airports and things".
She says Mpumalanga's
MEC for safety and security, Steve Mabona, sent his luxury state-issue
car and personal bodyguards to collect her in Johannesburg and take her
for a driving test in Delmas on October 1st, 1996. Mabona ordered his traffic
chief, Henry Brazer, to travel 350 km from Nelspruit to Delmas to test
her for both her learner's an driver's licences "with all the
necessary respect". Brazer got out of his sick bed after a minor heart
attack, phoned his brother-in-law, chief traffic inspector Frederick Bezuidenhout,
and ordered him to fetch all the nessary forms and stamps from the Kabokweni
test centre after hours, and without informing the manager. However, the
Sunday Times found that:
OFFICIALESE
"The Department (of
Transport), in collaboration with the various provinces, is in the process
of implementing the uniqueness checking of the VIN of motor vehicles by
the NaTIS. Initially the uniqueness checking of the VIN will be conducted
on vehicles that are newly introduced to the NaTIS only. Subsequent to
this phase, the uniqueness checking on the VIN will be enabled for existing
vehicles being registered upon change of title holde and/or owner.
"The Department would
like to point out that according to regulation 283C the title holder (bank)
would be responsible for tendering such a vehicle of which the VIN duplicates
to the applicable Vehicle Theft Unit of the SAPS...
"Please do not hestitate
to contact the Department, should you have any further queries in this
regard".
CRASH COURSE
The ANC put our a press alert during 1997 that the following Saturday was to be a public holiday to mark "National Women's Collison Day". It did not say whether deputy speaker Beleka Mbete-Kgotsitsile, whose illegal driver's licence was revoked, would attend.
DRIVING IN STYLE
Mpumalanga's government
ordered ten luxury BMW 528's at a cost of R2,3 million in December 1997,
shortly after it announced that budget constraints had forced it to cut
all capital projects, including those for new schools and roads. The cars
were to replace ten Mercedes-Benz cars which were purchased three years
earlier in 1994.
The cars were ordered
despite the fact that they each cost R77 000 more than is allowed for my
ministerial handbook regulations.
Jackson Mthembu, the
transport MEC, dismissed Transport Minister Mac Maharaj's call for MEC's
to follow his lead and drive cheaper cars as "impractical and out of
touch".
DRIVING ABILITY
Jessie
Duarte resigned as Gauteng MEC for Safety and Security after accusations
of mismanagement, including driving her official car without a driver's
licence.
Weeks after resigning,
Duarte reported at the Johannesburg Municipal testing grounds to take her
driver's test.
She failed the test when
she drove on the right-hand side of the road after starting off.
The report of the Moerane
commission, which investigated alleged irregularities by Duarte as MEC
for Safety and Security, was tabled in July 1998. The ANC decided not to
refer it to the Attorney General for his attention, but to treat it "internally"
as a disciplinary matter. The commission found that Duarte, together with
three officials in her office, was possibly an accessory in covering up
details of a car accident in which she was involved as the driver; that
she drove an official car without a drivers licence, and that she used
official funds for an air ticket for a boyfriend who accompanied her on
a holiday to Portugal.
LOOK MA, NO DRIVER!
The National Road Traffic Bill of 1996 contained this definition:
""Bus" means "a motor vehicle designed or adapted for the conveyance of more than 16 persons (including the driver, if any)".Did Transport Minister Mac Maharaj see something in Atlanta whilst attending the Olympic Games which he hasn't told us about?
MONKEY-BUSINESS ABOUT NUMBER PLATE
The
provinces of the new South Africa started dishing out their own distinctive
car registration number plates. The idea is that the first number in the
series is to be presented to the Premier of the province. Each number plate
consists of three letters of the alphabet, excluding vowels, followed by
thee numbers from 000 to 999, and a letter or letters indicating the province.
The Premier of the Northern Province, Mr Ngoako Ramathlodi, returned the
prestigious number plate awarded to him. It read: BBB000N.