Johannesburg - It seems Santa had a special gift in mind for the residents of Joburg South this Christmas.
Wrapped in black plastic bags, decorated with tinsel and “Merry Christmas” bling, speed cameras on several roads were allegedly covered by a thus far unknown elf.
The pictures of the cameras, first posted to Facebook on Christmas morning, had gone viral by Tuesday afternoon with more than 730 shares.
Many Facebook users found the idea humorous and entertaining, with some saying they were sick and tired of being caught out, especially by cameras set up to nail motorists driving at more than the 40km/h limit in residential areas such as Townsview near Rosettenville.
Vincent Gobey joked that this was “regifting”. “From you to us JMPD and right back to you, merry Christmas,” he said, while Simphiwe Googlethu said he “passed these cams and couldn’t stop laughing. I vvvvvrapaaaaaa down the road.”
Lerumo Royal German thanked Santa for the gift because “this speed trap camera always caught me”.
Mikhail Milo Gaffoor said: “The 40km/h speed limit is painful man! That’s a good one”, and Yvonne Jozie said it was “only in the south” that people did such things.
Not impressed
Ishtiyaaq Cassim added that not all heroes wear capes with Mobeen Abbas lauding the culprit: “Finally someone (has) done it!”
However not all residents were impressed. Some felt the mischief was irresponsible, when road deaths are so high.
“This is so not cool! There are enough accidents at this time of year. Why remove a potential deterrent?” asked Kim van Niekerk. Lesley Blake expressed anger at the recklessness: “So everyone can speed and more people die. How Christmassy! F****** moron.”
Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesman Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said he couldn’t confirm the incident as he had sent out officers to investigate and so far they had found nothing.
He said such actions would be an obstruction of justice. “It’s an offence. You can’t obstruct an officer or such, in its ability to execute the law.”