MEC condemns assault on traffic officials

By Ofentse Mokae
16 November 2009

Western Cape community safety MEC Lennit Max has strongly condemned the assault on two provincial traffic officers by a drunken driver and his passengers in Macassar, near Cape Town yesterday afternoon.

The female officer was assaulted when a breathalyzer test
indicated that the driver was under the influence of alcohol.

The driver and his passengers also assaulted the officer’s colleague who came to her rescue.

Through his spokesperson Julian Jansen, Max says such conduct constitutes a direct attack on the obligation that officers have to protect citizens.

“He says transgressors will not get off lightly and will have to answer to the courts,” said Julian Jansen.

Max says traffic officers will not be deterred by such unlawful conduct of drivers and will continue to stringently apply the law of the roads.

In another incident in Cape Town, a security guard was shot and killed in Milnerton last night in what appears to have been a dispute with a colleague.

The 42-year-old was shot in the head in his car which was parked along the N-7 highway.