Members of the police VIP unit assigned to protect MECs are trained to “eliminate” any motorist they perceive as a threat, whether or not the official they are meant to protect is present.
This was the evidence given by Martin Thulani Khanyile in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Tuesday. Khanyile trains VIP protection officers.
“(VIP members) must stay alive... to protect. That’s what we train them… they have to act as if the minister is there (at all times)… if there is a life-threatening situation, they should make a point that they eliminate the threat,” he said.
Khanyile was testifying on behalf of VIP officer Hlanganani Nxumalo, who is charged with six counts of attempted murder and unlawfully discharging a firearm, after a shooting incident on the N3 near Ashburton in November, 2008.
Nxumalo fired two shots at a vehicle, causing the driver, Anuvasen Moodley, to lose control of his car. The car veered across the median into oncoming traffic, where it collided with a bakkie.
Nxumalo had been a passenger in a black VW Golf, with flashing blue lights, which was on its way to pick up MEC Meshack Radebe from Waterfall to inspect storm damage at Molweni.
The VW driver, Caiphus Ndlela, is charged with reckless and negligent driving in connection with the same incident.
Nxumalo told the court on Monday that he had fired the warning shots because the car driver had been braking in front of him, switching lanes and trying to push the car in which he was travelling off the road. He also felt that his life was in danger.
Moodley’s testimony was that he had seen a car with flashing blue lights behind him, but had been unable to pull over because there were trucks in the slow lane.
With the police vehicle on his bumper, he heard a shot go off and, soon afterwards, when the Golf began pulling alongside, his wife shouted “gun!” and he heard a second shot.
This had caused him to lose control of his car, Moodley told the court.
Yesterday, when Khanyile was asked how one would go about “eliminating the threat”, he said that advanced driving skills would have to be used and, if this failed, a VIP member should fire a warning shot in the air. If that failed, “one is left with no option but to fire at the motor vehicle”.
“If there is a minister present, it is clear one has to shoot directly at the driver who is (posing a threat),” he said.
Khanyile said that in KwaZulu-Natal, unlike other provinces, motorists did not take blue lights and wailing sirens seriously.
He said that VIP unit members were entitled to exceed the speed limit when they were in a hurry, or when they perceived a threat on the road.
Suggesting that “eliminate” meant to “blow them out of the way”, prosecutor Johan Senekal asked Khanyile to define the term.
“It means getting away from the situation as quickly as possible,” Khanyile responded.
Asked what a motorist travelling in the fast lane should do if it was impossible to move over because there were trucks in the other lane, Khanyile responded that motorists should “increase their speed and overtake the trucks”, and then move into the slow lane.
The case resumes on Wednesday. - The Mercury, page 1