Inkosi Mhlabunzima Maphumulo House: Months ago, I gave our highly efficient team from the Road Traffic Inspectorate a mandate to be firm against those who are turning our road networks into killing fields.
We wish to report that since the 15th of August more than 896 motorists have been arrested for drunk driving.
By and large, these reckless drivers were removed from our road networks before they could kill other innocent road users.
We therefore attribute the dramatic decrease in road fatalities in KZN to the success of Alufakwa – Zero Tolerance and No-nonsense campaign.
We note the following successes from this past weekend – Friday evening to Sunday at 14h00:
- 274 total number of motorists were arrested for drunk driving in Newcastle alone.
- A male driver was arrested in the Madadeni area with an alcohol content eight times over the legal limit.
- A minibus taxi driver was arrested in Madadeni with alcohol content seveb times over the legal limit.
- A male foreign national truck driver was arrested with alcohol content two times over the legal limit.
- 47 motorists were arrested in Verulam R102 Ottawa Road for drunk driving.
In particular, for the Newcastle operation, we worked well with National Traffic Police, SAPS Amajuba Cluster, Newcastle Local Traffic and nurses from the district as assigned by the MEC for Health Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi.
In order to ensure successful prosecution, we have strengthened our enduring partnership with the Justice Department and Constitutional Development.
During the first week of November, we will give a detailed progress report and outcome of court cases involving the 896 motorists arrested for drunk driving.
Importantly, we have taken a decision to ensure massive arrests of drunk drivers over the next few weeks until the festive season and beyond.
In this regard, we have ordered more than 2500 blood/alcohol testing kits to be used to clean our roads.
Our message is very clear—drink, drive, and earn yourself a criminal record.
You also stand a good chance of spending 48 hours, before being granted bail, in holding cells with hardened criminals.
