Craven fooled by ‘Poephol glitch’

Patrick Craven spokesperson for Cosatu. Picture : Masi Losi.

Patrick Craven spokesperson for Cosatu. Picture : Masi Losi.

Published Apr 2, 2014

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Cape Town - Patrick Craven has been tricked. Cosatu’s national spokesman appears to have fallen victim to an April Fool’s prank that revealed that motorists could escape e-tolls by driving at exactly 113km/h.

According to a report in The Times, a whistleblower had come forward to show that e-toll cameras could not capture registration numbers of cars that travelled at 113km/h.

It said that Kapsch, the Austrian company responsible for the development of the e-tolling system, had warned Sanral to remove the glitch from the system, known as Prying on Every Person Holding Out Legally (Poephol).

Soon after reading the article, Craven leapt to his keyboard and issued a sternly-worded - and self- congratulatory release - that this revelation would give a boost to Cosatu’s “determined campaign to defeat this attempt to privatise our highways”.

Craven even quoted a Kapsch document which stated: “Right from the word go we warned Sanral to ensure that they had a highly secure Poephol.”

Craven wasn’t the only one caught out on Tuesday. Springbok purists ranted about SA Rugby magazine’s report that the Boks would be wearing a new red and gold kit when they play against Wales on June 14.

Unfortunately, Graeme Smith isn’t launching a party to contest the election as was reported by the Cape Times’ Sally Forpodia (an anagram of April Fool’s Day) on Tuesday.

An advert in the Cape Times said the government was going to introduce a sex tax. A link at the bottom of the ad directed readers to Lovers+condoms website which had the message: “Fool around this April Fool’s Day”.

Other pranks included a DA announcement that the Western Cape would pay for a multimillion-rand upgrade to Premier Helen Zille’s private home in Rosebank. Now where is the premier going to put her Fire Jacuzzi?

In a follow-up tweet, the DA said: “The ANC has responded to this news with outrage. ANC spokesperson Mr Jack Daniels Mthembu said that ‘there can only be one Number One’.”

Cape Times

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