Pretoria cop in trouble for delivering alcohol in marked SA police vehicle

Liquor was being off-loaded from a police van, suggesting the state vehicle was used to illegally convey alcohol in contravention of Covid-19 restrictions.

PRETORIA, January 15 (ANA) – A member of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Pretoria has been charged with using a vehicle without owners’ consent and contravening Disaster Management Act level 3 lockdown regulations related to Covid-19, after a video showing a police car delivering alcohol despite a ban went viral.

The incident happened at a shopping mall in Centurion, where an unconfirmed volume of liquor was being off-loaded from a SAPS van, suggesting the state vehicle was used to illegally convey alcohol in contravention of the restrictions, Gauteng police spokeswoman Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said.

“The acting provincial commissioner of police in Gauteng, Major General Tommy Mthombeni has commended the efficiency with which an internal investigation into a video clip circulating on social media, depicting people off-loading merchandise from a marked police van, has been conducted,” Peters said.

She said an investigation led by Tshwane district commissioner Major General Hilda Mohajane had been swiftly concluded, leading to the opening of a case against the implicated police officer.

Internal departmental proceedings would also be activated on the officer’s conduct, Peters added.

Mthombeni applauded members of the public who, after the origin of the video clip was established, cooperated and assisted police in the preliminary investigation.

“When we saw the video clip our immediate concern was that no detail could be made out at face value, not even which province the incident happened at,“ he said.

“An urgent and intensive investigation was therefore required to get to the bottom of this matter. It is thus pleasing that the investigating officer and everyone who contributed to the investigation, understood the seriousness with which management of the SAPS viewed this incident.”

He urged the public to continue reporting non-compliance with Covid-19 lockdown regulations, even when the transgressors were members of the police force or other law enforcement agencies.

“No one is above the law,” Mthombeni said.

– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa