By Shaun Smillie
'Hey, these people can drink," metro police officer Superintendent Patrick Jaca said with a shake of his head.
Jaca had come to this realisation just hours into manning a roadblock deep in Alexandra. Across the road from the metro police roadblock was the line of cars the police had seized through the night.
The tally included six minibus taxis, all the drivers arrested for drunken driving.
| Wednesday night and Thursday morning were the busiest days |
"One of the drivers was way over the limit, he could hardly walk. Worst of all, he had 15 passengers in the back. Another driver ran away," said Jaca.
Wednesday night and Thursday morning were the busiest days for the Johannesburg Metro Police Department.
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On Wednesday, roadblocks in Alexandra and Nancefield, Soweto, netted 36 drunk drivers, and another motorist was arrested for possession of dagga.
On Thursday a total of 179 drivers were arrested in Empire Road for outstanding fines.
"The majority were taxi drivers. If they weren't able to pay their fines there, then they will have to appear in court," metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said.
| A man, a woman and a child lost their lives |
There was at least one serious accident in Gauteng, when a minibus taxi overturned on Klipriver Road in Alberton on Wednesday night after the driver lost control.
A man, a woman and a child lost their lives. A further 10 people were injured and admitted to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
Alexandra on Wednesday night was just the latest "geographical focus point" in Operation Token Days - a metro police initiative that is in part targeting drunken drivers over the holidays.
Several roadblocks were set up throughout the township, much to the local residents' surprise. "This is the first time that I have seen them here in Alex."
"Normally you just read about it in the newspapers," said Pauline Mulalazi.
It appeared that some motorists were just as surprised as the residents.
Metro police often battled to get them to stop and get out of their vehicles. Those who did, nervously blew into breathalysers.
"This is the first time that I have ever done this. I was so nervous, even though I haven't drunk anything tonight," confessed one driver.
The guilty tried other ways to escape the law.
One metro police officer was knocked down by a car when she attempted to arrest the driver for drunken driving.
She sustained minor bruising, but the driver was able to get away.
The less lucky tried to beat the breathalyser by pretending to blow into the apparatus - complaining that they were short of breath. "That doesn't work because we will still take blood from them," explained Minnaar.
Another drunken driver decided that his way of escaping arrest was to act out for The Star photographer's camera, trying to break free from the cordon of officers. "Look what they are doing to me," he said, pleading to the camera.
It didn't work. He was wrestled to the ground, and frog-marched to the nearest police van.
Another aim of Operation Token Days is to introduce visible policing. "We want the residents to feel safe, by reducing crime and by being around," explained one officer at the roadblock.
But just as she uttered these words, gunshots rang out from an alleyway close to where the roadblock was situated. No one went to investigate.
Drunken drivers weren't the only booty netted by the metro police on Wednesday night. A plastic bag found in a Jeep 4x4 produced about 10 matchboxes worth of dagga. Three occupants in the luxury vehicle were arrested.
"Now that I can't understand. They have a fancy car like that and they smoke dagga. They should have had cocaine," laughed one bystander.
By midnight the police were proclaiming their latest operation a great success - a total of 38 arrests in the Johannesburg area, which was higher than the 30 arrests made on Saturday night.
But still some officers lamented the fact that the operation had run only to midnight. "The later it gets, the fewer the vehicles, but the drunker they get," Jaca said.
- This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on December 17, 2004
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