Staff Reporter
Two Ray Nkonyeni municipal bodyguards were arrested on Friday on KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast for allegedly misusing blue lights and driving recklessly in an official BMW X5.
The arrests are part of the #NenzaniLaEzweni Operation, which has been ramped up before the festive season — traditionally a time of increased fatal road accidents provincially and nationally.
“They were travelling alone without the deputy mayor, who was in a full council meeting. The two bodyguards are facing charges of reckless driving, illegal use of blue lights, impersonating a police officer, and for carrying a firearm without a firearm licence,” said the province’s transport MEC, Siboniso Duma.
The blue lights were confiscated and handed to the police as evidence, while the vehicle was impounded.
Duma said the municipal manager promised to “ensure consequence management”.
The operation, which took place in Park Rynie and was led by the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI), netted three additional arrests for excessive speeding.
One was a medical doctor, who clocked 181 km/h in a Ford Ranger Raptor. An attorney clocked 175 km/h in a VW Golf, and a regional Checkers manager clocked 170 km/h in a Toyota Corolla Cross.
On Thursday, an undocumented Zimbabwean truck driver was detained after his vehicle ploughed into four trucks and a Volkswagen Polo at the Mariannhill Toll Plaza, Duma said.
The crash came minutes after another truck with failed brakes collided with three trucks, a minibus taxi and an SUV, injuring 12 people.
“We want the owner of the truck to come forward. It is illegal to employ a foreign truck driver without the necessary documents,” Duma said.
The provincial offensive against unauthorised vehicles and rogue road users was launched in October, an attempt to reduce deadly accidents along key routes like the N3 corridor, where heavy-duty crashes have killed dozens this year.
The #NenzaniLaEzweni campaign, meaning “What is the problem?” in isiZulu, deploys multi-agency teams including police, immigration officials and labour inspectors to target “exploitative practices”, such as hiring undocumented foreign drivers, bribing officials to evade checks, and forcing excessive hours without pay or rest.
Since its rollout, the operation has stopped nearly 100 trucks in single blitzes, leading to arrests of drunken and undocumented drivers, impoundments of unsafe vehicles, and probes into human rights abuses in the logistics sector.
In one early sweep at Pietermaritzburg’s Mkhondeni Weighbridge, authorities nabbed five foreign nationals for immigration violations and a Zimbabwean driver for ferrying tourists without permits.
In September, Duma said the department would be cracking down on the “blue light mafia”.
“We will not fold our arms. We want to protect innocent motorists and the people of this province against the images of blue light mafia, which is critical at this point in time because in some instances they will be harassing other motorists and fellow drivers,” he said at the time.
INSIDE METROS