Khulubuse Zuma, the nephew of President Jacob Zuma and Aurora Empowerment Systems boss, has been arrested and tried for speeding in Ballito after his silver, convertible Maserati, was clocked at 181km/h.

Zuma, who is also chairman of the embattled gold mining company Aurora Empowerment Systems, was apprehended by Road Traffic Inspectorate officials in Ballito, on the KZN North Coast on January 9.

He was believed to have been in the company of his mother at the time.

He was arrested and taken to the Umhlali police station on January 9. The following day he appeared in the Umhlali Magistrate’s Court where he pleaded guilty and was handed a R3 000 fine.

According to police and RTI sources the vehicle was registered to Viglietti Motors in Cape Town. Manager Gareth Crossley said he could not confirm if the car had been loaned to Zuma or if he was a client.

“I cannot say anything. If we loaned him the car or if he is a prospective buyer is confidential,” said Crossley.

KZN police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane confirmed the case. – IOL Staff Reporter

JPSA Responds

During December 2011, Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele stated that "all motorists arrested for traffic offences must have their driving licenses seized and suspended/cancelled." Collins Letsoalo, acting CEO of the RTMC was very quick to jump on the bandwagon, stating that section 25(1)(b) of the National Road Traffic Act gives him the power to do this. Several reports citing tens of thousands of driving licence suspensions/cancellations then also followed.

Now it emerges that Khulubuse Zuma has pleaded guilty to driving at 181km/h in an undefined speed limit zone. At best, he would have been 61km/h over the speed limit -at worst 141km/h since Ballito has speed limits of 40km/h. Either way, since 20 November 2010, it has been law that anyone exceeding the speed limit in an urban area by more than 30km/h and outside an urban area by more than 40km/h must have their driving licence suspended by the court unless mitigating circumstances of considerable proportion are found.

So here we have a man who, by merely bearing a favourable surname is sentenced to a R3000 fine and has no other consequences imposed on him when other motorists have had fines of five times that imposed on them and have had their driving licenses suspended. This incident happened on 9 January 2012 and once again, Sibusiso Ndebele, despite launching his tirades about how lawlessness on our roads has said absolutely nothing about this. No doubt he will once again say that people like us are "distracting public attention from the real road safety issues" when we say that making fish of one and fowl of the other sends the wrong message.

I personally, and many others like me, am sick to death of the Minister and his sidekick, Collins Letsoalo blowing smoke up everyone's behinds. In their opinions, "speed kills", but only if it is not their or their friends' vehicles involved!

Why it is that we as South Africans accept this kind of bull is completely beyond me. We must band together and demand that Ndebele and Letsoalo step down and that our Constitution is adhered to by giving every person equal treatment under the law. These two individuals are not Magistrates but they do have the power to ensure that the laws Ndebele enacts are adhered to by all involved. They simply don't seem to care, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't, now does it?

With effect from 20 November 2010, the National Road Traffic Act demands that on conviction of certain offences, the driving licence of any person convicted of these offences shall be suspended for minimum periods. Amongst these offences are hit and run crashes, reckless or negligent driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and excessive speeding.  Since it came into play tens of thousands of driving licenses have been suspended and/or cancelled (according to the Department of Transport) but there have also been numerous cases where "high-profile" individuals have not suffered this fate. Consistency in application of the law is very important, however it is quite clear that the law in South Africa is being applied on a basis of who you are, not what you have done.

Below is Section 35 of the National Road Traffic Act and I certainly don't see any reference to exemptions under it - do you?

Authored and commented by Howard Dembovsky

JOHANNESBURG – It is with interest and not a small amount of bewilderment that JPSA has learned that SANTACO president Jabulani Mthembu has stated in public that his organisation supports the call by transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele to lower the speed limits on national freeways from 120km/h to 100km/h. (http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2011/09/23/taxi-drivers-endorse-low-speed-limit).

What is most surprising about his apparent attempt to suck up to the Minister is that he seems to be blissfully ignorant of the fact that a speed limit of 100km/h on national freeways already applies to ALL of his members’ vehicles as well as busses!

Every single day we hear about another fatal minibus taxi crash and every single day other road users; including pedestrians and minibus taxi passengers themselves have to contend with taxi drivers breaking almost every traffic law that exists. Only today, another 16 school children have been injured (some seriously) in yet another minibus taxi crash in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

What is almost more surprising to learn that KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC Willies Mchunu seems to also be equally oblivious as his colleagues are that the speed limit with respect to that class of vehicle (minibus taxis) already exists when he similarly supports these calls for a reduction in speed limits and says “every week we have been losing more than 10 lives in one accident.”

Whilst it has become customary for people to not practice what they preach, Mr Mthembu’s efforts would be way better spent getting his members to comply with the basics of existing laws rather than coming forward with hypocritical statements about other motorists who are subjected to the grossly delinquent and homicidal behaviour of his members and others in the minibus taxi industry.

Surely all of these people are not ignorant enough to think that reducing the speed limit applicable light motor vehicles on national freeways is going to make any difference to the compliance of minibus taxis with speed limits and traffic laws. Then again, apparently they are.

Don’t fool yourself, ignorance and reckless driving kills!

JOHANNESBURG – Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) was mildly surprised to hear that transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele is now seeking to reduce the general speed limit applicable on freeways from 120km/h to 100km/h, once again quoting what has been the case in Australia as an example of how road deaths can be reduced. He cites the fact that “studies conducted in other countries such as Australia where the speed limit is 110km/h indicate that a reduction in speed limit can save lives” but he seems to continually either miss or circumvent the obvious.

Whilst speed may indeed contribute to the severity of a collision, it is very rarely the root cause of collisions and one has to take into account that two vehicles travelling at just 60km/k each, which then crash into one and other head-on will have a devastating outcome. Head on collisions – of which there have been many in the last two months are almost always resultant from one or more parties committing one or more moving violations prior to the collision occurring.

Similarly, it has been repeatedly stated by the Department of Transport, the RTMC and countless others that collisions are almost always preceded by the commission of a moving violations, yet for some obscure reason, law enforcement authorities insist on focussing almost exclusively on camera based speed prosecution instead of concentrating on truly dangerous moving violations like overtaking on no-overtaking lines, blind rises etc., not stopping at stop streets and red lights, not observing safe following distances, etc. It has also been revealed that somewhere in the order of 45% of all people who die on our roads annually are under the influence of alcohol. Yet, the focus on highly ineffective camera enforcement remains the primary focus of traffic law enforcement agencies and in some agencies, this figure is as high as 99%.  In Johannesburg alone, this equates to around 430,000 fines a month – each and every month and this figure is not reducing.

The Minister was quoted as saying “There are increasing calls and signs that something drastic needs to be done to arrest the current situation," and we could not agree with him more. However JPSA holds that the “something” that needs to be done is for the 17,000 odd traffic officers in this country, their bosses and the Minister himself to start taking the role of traffic  law enforcement seriously. It is no good running around bringing new legislation – and adjustments to current legislation before cabinet when current laws are not being enforced properly.

So what if the Minister gets his ill thought-out scheme of reducing the current general speed limit of 120km/h on national freeways reduced to 100km/h if all this will mean is that even more cameras will explode onto the scene to earn traffic authorities more revenue? If speed enforcement does not revert to stopping speedsters at the time of their infringement, then reducing the speed limit will have absolutely no effect on the incidences of speeding. The Minister also needs to start to grasp the concept that “you cannot reduce road deaths by decree, Mr Minister!”

Continually comparing Australia and other countries which have highly professional and effective law enforcement agencies in place to South Africa is not only nonsensical, but acutely highlights the total lack of understanding the Minister has of his own country and what is giving rise to the problems we have. The only similarities between South Africa and Australia is that we are both in the Southern hemisphere and drive on the left hand side of the road.

Urgent attention must be given to the traffic authorities in South Africa taking their mandate seriously and starting to do things properly. If for example, traffic authorities were to purely focus on enforcing wearing seat belts, as is required by long pre-existing legislation, then there would be an immediate effect on the number of lives that are saved in collisions. But a holistic and very serious adjustment in the way in which traffic law is enforced in this country has to be made if anyone wants to see any results whatsoever.

The Minister also needs to bear in mind that camera enforcement will never catch the truly dangerous motorists on our roads who choose to emulate the actions of such people as Deputy Chief of the TMPD Ndumiso Jaca, and place counterfeit number plates on their vehicles! They will simply continue to speed with impunity. It is also noted that the Minister has taken no action whatsoever in that matter and has merely mentioned it in passing in one of his speeches.

Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele is to ask Cabinet to reduce the top speed limit from 120km/h to 100km/h.

"There are increasing calls and signs that something drastic needs to be done to arrest the current situation," Ndebele said on Tuesday.

"Studies conducted in other countries such as Australia where the speed limit is 110km/h indicate that a reduction in speed limit can save lives."

Earlier in the day, Ndebele visited an accident scene on the N2, between Empangeni and Mtubatuba, where 10 people were killed in a crash involving a minibus taxi.

Ndebele said 126 people had been killed in the past two months in accidents involving public transport.

"This unnecessary loss of lives on a daily basis calls for a serious review of the current status quo. We cannot afford to have the situation continue like this," he said.

- SAPA

Pretoria - A popular Premier Soccer League player was arrested after clocking 195 km/h on a speed camera on the N4 Bakwena Platinum Highway outside Brits yesterday morning, North West officials said.

Thuso Phala, 26, striker for Rustenburg based Platinum Stars, was arrested at around 8:00am near the Brits off-ramp while driving his BMW from Rustenburg towards Pretoria. He was locked up at Brits Police Station and later released on R1500 bail negotiated by his lawyer.

"The player is expected to appear in the Brits Magistrates Court on Monday to answer to charges of exceeding the permissible speed limit of 120km/h," said Community Safety Department spokesperson Lesiba Kgwele.

Phala joins a long list of celebrities and sports stars who have been nabbed in the past for driving at high speed. These include popular radio presenter Sbu "DJ Sbu" Leope who was arrested for driving at 289 k/h.

Kgwele said 80 speedsters were earlier in the week arrested on the N4 and across the province and have thus far caught 150 speed offenders since they embarked on special operations to commemorate women's month. -BuaNews