I am sure we’ve all heard about Winnie Mandela’s altercation with the police on 30 December 2010. The incident occurred after Mandela’s driver was stopped for speeding because Nelson’s ex-wife was late for a funeral.
Now there are two different stories here. One from the policeman saying he was pushed by the driver and the other from the driver, who said the policeman swore at him and hit him on the knee with a rifle.
As far as I am concerned it doesn’t matter if the driver or Mrs. Mandela were sworn at. The bottom line is, the driver was speeding and should not have tried to get away with it because he was transporting a politician.
Also, Mrs. Mandela is demanding an apology! Why, because the cop was doing his job? Are politicians above the law?
In my opinion, if the cop involved let them go, it would be exactly the same as if he took a bribe.
The South African public is constantly put at risk for reckless driving and police officers are faced with a daunting challenge to reduce road deaths. The reality is that road safety is a global health risk and Road Safety authorities around the globe, including South Africa, pledged its support to the global Make Roads Safe Campaign.
Let’s not forget that 1551 people died on our roads during the festive season between 1 December and 5 January.
Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele said, “We do not talk about deaths. We talk about road carnage. Carnage refers to the violent killing of a large number of people. The question every South African must ask is which 1000 it is going to be this month or the next that will die?"
Do these people die because we stick to the speed limits? I think not.
According to news reports, Mrs. Mandela instructed her driver to drive off because the situation was getting ugly. Well, well, well, does that mean if I am breaking the law and the police tried to wrestle me to the ground, I can run away because the situation is getting ugly?
Mrs. Mandela and her driver should have apologised to the cop for breaking the law and asked him to write out a fine for their indiscretion.
I will be watching this story very closely to see exactly what the outcome is. Let’s not forget driving above the speed limit is a criminal offense and as far as I remember, a criminal can’t be trusted.
Before you all go jumping up and down about me calling Mrs. Mandela’s driver a criminal… that’s not what I am saying. I am saying, that he was speeding, he broke the law and as a result he should be given a fine for his indiscretion.
Also, coming late to a funeral is definitely not an excuse to exceed the speed limit.
I am reminded of the bible verse:
Luke 9:59-62, But he said to him, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' 60 But he said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' 61
Simply put, it doesn’t matter who you are, what you are doing or where you are going, first obey the law and everything else will fall into place.
Maybe Mrs. Mandela’s personal assistant should be fired for her bad planning and making this respected politician late for the funeral in the first place.
Just putting it out there…
No comments:
Post a Comment