The City of Cape Town’s traffic department has initiated an investigation after a traffic officer allegedly allowed an undocumented, unlicensed foreign national to leave the scene of an accident last week.
The motorist was driving an unlicensed, unroadworthy vehicle with fake number plates.
The incident took place on Thursday morning in the Brackenfell industrial area, where the driver crashed at high speed into a heavy-duty steel gate, reversing into a building. The vehicle struck a generator and displaced machinery weighing nearly a ton, narrowly missing several employees.
TygerBurger reviewed surveillance footage of the incident. Witnesses reported that the driver, a Wallacedene resident, attempted to flee by driving over the gate and into oncoming traffic. “Fortunately, that gave us time to give chase,” said the business owner, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. “We managed to block the vehicle and grab the keys from the ignition. We pushed it back onto our property and reported the incident on our local security group for assistance. Local security company C-Max responded and reported the incident to 10111.”
About 30 minutes later two officers arrived in an unmarked Toyota.
“By then we had already determined that the vehicle was unlicensed,” the business owner explained, “and the driver from Wallacedene who had no ID was an illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe without a driver’s licence. His passenger removed several plastic bags from the car and disappeared.”
The male officer began writing a traffic incident report, but according to the business owner he said he could do nothing more than issue a fine. “I questioned him about this. How could a traffic officer let a perpetrator leave after committing such a serious offence? The driver had already admitted he was an undocumented Zimbabwean without a licence. He was driving recklessly, endangering lives and causing damage to property. It’s a miracle no-one was injured. In my mind this is a crime scene, and the vehicle should have been impounded with the driver detained. He told me it wasn’t his job, and when I pressed him, he said I should go and toyi toyi at Parliament.”
False number plates
Witnesses reported the officer did not speak to the driver in English, so the business owner couldn’t understand their conversation. “The officer then forced us to hand the car keys over,” the business owner said. “I asked him if he was really going to allow an unlicensed driver to get back behind the wheel of an unlicensed, unroadworthy vehicle. He paused, then told the driver he needed to call someone with a licence to remove the car.”
Eyewitnesses said the officer inspected the vehicle, noting the driver’s door could be kept shut only with a bolt lock and that the brakes weren’t working. He then drove the car to the other side of the road, parked it and removed the registration plates after informing the C-Max security officer that the plates were fake, as confirmed in the C-Max report.
“This is absolutely shocking,” the business owner said. “To me this feels like a cover-up. By the time the officers left the vehicle had a flat tyre from driving over the spikes on our gate while trying to flee. After the officers left the driver moved the vehicle to a nearby parking lot and waited for a friend to help change the tyre before driving off.
Complaint filed
The business owner filed a complaint with the City, providing photographs and footage. Mark Harding, Chief Inspector of Traffic Operations in Area North, said an investigation was pending. Maxine Bezuidenhout, City Traffic spokesperson, confirmed the City was investigating. “The incident occurred on private property, police need to investigate the person’s immigration status. The business owner can file a case for damage to private property.”
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