AS senior citizens’ in our seventies we were travelling on the morning of the 24th of December 2016 to meet with our grand children, the dawn had just broken and a SAPS van passed us and pulled over a van in front of us.
We were halfway through the Hluhluwe town and the same SAPS van was flashing their blue lights behind us, as it is a single lane road I pull over to the side road and stopped outside the last filling station on the left.
I thought that possibly one of our rear lights were not working and got out of the bakkie.
Two men dressed casually wearing shorts and sandals approached me, no good morning, straight to the point, ‘what is that on your shirt?’.
I looked down and there was a small drop of water which I had drank earlier. My reply was that it is water.
‘How do I know it is water?’.
I then asked my wife for the water bottle and asked if he would taste the water which he declined, informing me in a loud voice that it is a criminal offence to drink water while driving.
My wife made an attempt to defuse the situation and told him that I had taken my blood pressure pills.
His reply was: ‘I am not talking to you, keep quiet’.
For the next ten to fifteen minutes I had him talking down to me on top of his voice repeating that it is a criminal offence.
The other officer must had though that he was at a pantomime as he never said a word and enjoyed the performance so much that he laughed for the full duration of his colleges performance without a break.
I was not going to asks for identity under the circumstances. The garage attendants and local security must have witnessed the event and being local would be able to identify the officers.
The cameras at the garage would possibly recorded the registration of the police van.
On reaching the boarder we discussed our disappointment with a Mozambican gentleman in front of us who laughed and told us that he was stopped going through Hluhluwe and he was asked by the police if he had alcohol for them.
His reply was: ‘I have none, I have my passport and papers for my vehicle’. I have his registration number.
I have always received excellent service from the SAPS.
However, these two if they are policeman need to face disciplinary action as what we experienced shows that there is no discipline at the Police stations and the station commander must take responsibility for the poor image he or his employees have displayed in public.
BRIAN STEVENS
