eThekwini only has one mobile speed timing unit

AT a full council meeting this morning, (29 August), ANC Exco member and Community and Emergency Services chairperson Zandile Gumede said she would have to investigate allegations that the eThekwini Metro Police Department only has one hand-held speed timing unit at its disposal.

She could not answer a set of questions posed on speed timing at the council meeting, put forward by Councillor Heinz De Boer.

De Boer also stated unit members only conducted speed timing for eight out of a potential 22 working days in July alone.

This was revealed in a confidential document obtained by the DA which also showed fixed speed timing units were always predictably placed behind trees on the same roads day after day while the city’s dangerous suburban roads were largely ignored.

“Hundreds of people die on city roads every year and the importance of adequate, effective and unpredictable speed timing is of grave importance if the city is serious about reducing road fatalities,” said Councillor De Boer, who said Gumede's inability to answer the questions indicated the ANC leadership in eThekwini was totally out of touch with what was going on in this already dysfunctional department.

Submitted well in advance, the questions posed by the DA were directly aimed at uncovering the rot that has set in this unit and to give Gumede ample time to look into the matter.

“Clearly she didn’t bother. The DA will in the next week be liaising directly with city manager S’bu Sithole to ask for a full investigation into this unit. We simply cannot stand by and watch more people die on our roads while the very unit responsible for catching the speedsters spends lacks essential equipment and spends only eight days of the month actually speed timing,” said De Boer.