‘Drunk’ cop is no ‘labour matter’

There are many occasions in present-day South Africa where you wonder whether lunatics are running the asylum.

And the City of Ekurhuleni is looking like a mad house for refugees from reality.

Nowhere else would a senior city spokesperson dismiss as a mere “labour matter” the allegedly criminally irresponsible behaviour by a police officer in uniform, who was not only apparently drunk behind the wheel of an official vehicle, but also carried a loaded gun.

Already, the chances of any conviction relating to drunkenness have been reduced because the cop was never tested by his supervisors or other officers who removed him from a scene in the city where he had almost hit a motorcyclist with his vehicle.

Bystanders captured on video his staggering walk, slurred speech, the fact that there was booze in the vehicle and that his firearm was taken away from him by another officer.

What you have, is criminal behaviour in terms of both control of a vehicle and a firearm – and then an apparent attempt to defeat the ends of justice by his colleagues, who whisked him away without testing his alcohol level.

That needs to be sorted out by a court, not a human resources hearing.

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