For quite some time now the ‘Witbank Dices’ has been taking place in eMalahleni.
According to community members there are two locations where the dices take place each Sunday evening.
Some people meet up at a parking area in OR Tambo Street and others make their way to Mandela Street near the mall.
On Sunday evenings just after 21:00 the participants gather to meet their rivals.
You can expect to see anything from ‘scoroscoros’ to the top of the line Mercedes Benz AMG.
Participants meet up at the robot near the Sun 1 Hotel and drive full speeds all the way to the robot near Pick n Pay.
“It is so dangerous; I have witnessed it myself one evening on my way back from Jo’burg. These people skip the robots and they are going at the speed of lightning,” stated municipal ward counsellor Ms Naritha Naidu.
Cllr Naidu claims that she has spoke to the Director of Community Services, Mr Solani Matlebjoane multiple times about the illegal dicing taking place in eMalahleni, but nothing has been done since.
“My biggest concern is the safety of our residents, is a life not worth much more than winning an illegal race?”
Cllr Naidu’s fear quickly escalated into reality on Sunday evening, February 24.
Just after 21:00 the participants once again gathered to have another night of dicing.
A green Mercedes AMG was clearly up for the challenge, unfortunately as he came flying by, he hit a police vehicle and caused an accident.
“The AMG driver lost control over his vehicle and swerved right into the police van that stood there in the road,” explained one of the eyewitnesses on scene.
“The police van then rolled down the hill almost into the parking lot.”
This accident drew a lot of attention as nearly 100 people stood around the scene to see what was happening.
Fortunately no serious injuries were sustained.
Not only did the crowd get to see the accident scene but they also allegedly witnessed a fight that broke out on scene.
“The fight escalated badly and someone got sprayed with pepper spray. One of the tow truck member’s vehicles was also smashed with bricks,” said a witness on scene.
“When I heard that there was an accident my blood started to boil because this happened and it could actually have been prevented,” Cllr Naidu concluded.
WITBANK NEWS did some further investigation and found that the ‘Witbank Dices’ is a legit, illegal practise.
They even have a Facebook page named ‘Witbank Dices’ the description on this page invites all petrol heads and sound junkies to join the group. This is a closed group on Facebook with nearly 300 members.
Capt Eddie Hall, Witbank SAPS Communications Officer stated that the dices are in fact an illegal operation and anyone caught in this law-breaking act will have to face the consequences.
“The driver of the Mercedes AMG has been arrested and he is facing charges for reckless and negligent driving. He is also civilly being sued by the state for the damage caused to the police vehicle and injuries caused to the police official,” concluded Capt Hall.
