Cape Town – A video of a taxi driver pushing a Durban metro police officer with a white Toyota Quantum has left Mzansi talking about the disregard taxi drivers have for the law.
The video shared by Dale U Crew on Facebook is said to have been taken near the Christians Village shopping complex in Hillcrest, west of Durban.
In the video, the metro police officer is seen standing in front of the taxi on the passenger side and appears to be writing a ticket or fine.
The officer keeps writing while the driver pushes him by driving forward slowly, forcing the officer to move a few steps back.
Eventually, the officer moves out of the way and waves for the driver to carry on.
The SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) in KZN said that the driver’s actions were out of order and that if the driver had a complaint against the officer he should have followed due processes, IOL reported.
Santaco representative, Sifiso Shangase said nobody was above the rule of law and that police were the epitome of the country’s institutions and needed to be respected.
“We need to calculate information and educate our own drivers to also understand the importance of respecting police officers and peace officers and their roles.
“At the end of the day, he can’t just stop him for nothing. If the driver feels that (an in)justice was being done to him, he does have a recourse of going to court and making a representation so his issue could be dealt with through the law,” the report quoted Shangase as saying.
Metro spokesperson Geraldine Stevens, on the other hand, said the driver should have been arrested on a number of charges including reckless and negligent driving.
He said that the officer who didn’t report the incident will be dealt with.
“We will have to deal with the officer. He is part of traffic order. I wondered why he never pulled out his firearm and warn the driver. That falls under failing to perform his duties, so he will have to be dealt with as well,” Stevens was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile Deputy Metro police head, Steve Middleton has since posted an update on the incident.
“We have the driver with us. He has been placed under arrest and proceeding to Hillcrest SAPS,” read the update in the comments section of the post.
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Picture: Facebook/ Steven Middleton
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
