Woman misusing municipal vehicle flees from cops

AS THE Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) intensifies its crackdown on municipal officials using state vehicles for personal business and errands, another Ford Ranger bakkie has been confiscated from a City of Ekurhuleni official who was found travelling with her child.

Metro police spokesperson Kelebogile Thepa said when officers stopped the woman and explained to her the municipal policy on the use of City of Ekurhuleni vehicles, she drove away while they were speaking to her.

Thepa said the police did not chase the woman because there was a child in the car.

“On Tuesday, May 30, between 7am and 8am, members of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department impounded a council-issued vehicle in the Tembisa area, following misuse by a City of Ekurhuleni employee,” Thepa said.

“Allegedly, the officers were travelling from Tembisa to Kempton Park passing through the Zuurfontein Cemetery, when they noticed a white Ford Ranger bakkie being driven by a female City of Ekurhuleni employee from the energy department travelling in the opposite direction.

“Members politely stopped the vehicle, and a driver came out from the vehicle and came straight to them.”

Thepa said when the officers were outlining the council's policy to the woman, she walked away “before the officers could finish explaining” and drove off.

“Officers did not want to chase her as she was with a child in the car, however, they proceeded straight to the energy department in Tembisa and waited for her to arrive, immediately confiscating the vehicle.”

“With further investigations soon to follow, the EMPD would like to reiterate that those who make use of council resources that are meant to serve the public at large, should refrain from such, as these resources are for the purpose of service delivery.”

Last week, the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department pounced on several municipal officials and confiscated at least four official vehicles being used for personal business.

Some of the vehicles, including a marked municipal police BMW, were seized at schools where the municipal workers were picking up or dropping off their children.

“On Tuesday, May 23, at about 6am, members of the Ekurhuleni

Metropolitan Police Department’s security and loss control unit impounded three municipal vehicles following misuse by City of Ekurhuleni council employees in the Benoni area,” Thepa said.

After receiving a tip-off, officers

went to a high school in Benoni where they found three vehicles – a marked BMW belonging to the EMPD, a marked Ford Ranger belonging to the disaster and emergency management services department and an unmarked white Ford Ranger belonging to the parks department – in the school parking lot.

On Friday, the EMPD said it had confiscated more municipal vehicles that were being misused by municipal staff.

Thepa said one of the vehicles, a Ford Ranger, was being used to transport staff from a cleaning company.

“On Wednesday, May 24, between 6.30am and 7am, members of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department’s security and loss control unit impounded two municipal vehicles in Kempton Park and Tembisa following misuse by the City of Ekurhuleni employees,” she said.

One of the vehicles, an unmarked white Ford Ranger, was confiscated at a primary school in Birchacres in Kempton Park.