Many people have written in to the Daily Dispatch lately about speed limits and speeding fines. It is understandable that citizens receive speeding fines from time to time, but what about the Minister of Transport? I couldn’t help but be amazed when I read media reports that the Transport Minister has received a number of fines. It is understandable that the Minister, just like any other person, may receive fines which may just surpass a 60km per hour (km/h) speed limit. What is not acceptable is that anyone, particularly the Minister or any of the top Transport officials, receives fines for racing at 250km/h on a road where the upper speed limit is 120km/h.
Media reports indicate that official records reflect that traffic fines were issued to Minister Ndebele for racing between 146 km/h and 250 km/h on the N1 North in Johannesburg in July 2010. The fact that the Minister was the good citizen that he should be and paid this fine leaves everyone doubting the spin story provided by Toyani Rikhotso, Ndebele’s spokesman.
Rikhotso spun that the Minister’s fine was probably an error that lay with the dealership where the vehicle was purchased as the Minister had sold the vehicle that same month. If this was the case then why did the Minister pay the admission of guilt fine? Why then did he not comply with the National Road Regulations by completing the required documentation when selling his vehicle? Why did he not dispute the fine? Clearly, this is a case where the spin doctor didn’t tie up his spin properly!
If the Minister claims that other people drove his car, as the acting head of the RTMC (Road Traffic Management Corporation) Collins Letsoalo claimed, when questioned about the speeding fines he paid for, then it makes it far worse. Besides not taking personal responsibility, these gentlemen allowed their respective vehicles to be driven by other parties who were not nominated as drivers.
More shockingly these un-nominated, and therefore illegal, drivers proved to operate these vehicles irresponsibly and dangerously!
The minister is also SADC champion for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 campaign – how cynical can the man be?
The Minister and acting CEO for the RTMC made an absurd announcement in December threatening immediate seizure, suspension and cancellation of driving licenses belonging to people accused of the exact same offences they have admitted guilt for! When talking about his offences the Minister said that "It distracts public attention from the real issues of unlawful driving and road carnage."
How exactly does it distract public attention from “real issues”, given that both of these individuals continually state that excessive speed is one of the largest contributing factors to road carnage? Is the Minister trying to imply that speed only kills if it is not his vehicle or that of the Acting CEO’s?
The Minister himself has stated that "Any person, including the minister of transport, who commits any traffic violation, will face the consequences of their actions." I agree whole-heartedly with his statement and now that both he and Collins Letsoalo have publicly stated in the media that they have violated the AARTO Act by not nominating a driver, that they will both be charged for their actions and face the consequences.
I suspect that in this case these gentlemen will get away with this as the law appears not to apply to them.
PS: Thanks to Manny De Freitas for the heads up.
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