Moments after senior ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu was pulled over for driving in the N2 bus lane, the party's former provincial chairman, Mcebisi Skwatsha, apparently also pulled up and stopped officers from handcuffing him. This is according to Ghost Squad members who stopped Mthembu, 51, on the N2, near the Pinelands off-ramp, early yesterday. They said they detected "a strong smell of alcohol" on Mthembu's breath and arrested him. But they said Skwatsha first prevented them from handcuffing Mthembu, and then officers at Mowbray police station had initially refused to open a drunk driving case.
Soon after his arrest, Mthembu was taken to the Safely Home Anti Drunk-driving Operations War Room, commonly known as The Shadow, in Athlone, where he was tested with a breathalyser. This showed he was more than three times over the legal limit. Yesterday, an hour after his release from police custody on R500 bail, Mthembu spoke to the Cape Times on his cellphone and confirmed he was to appear in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on March 24. He refused to say where he had been driving to or from. "Can we rather leave that for the court?" he asked.
Mthembu laughed heartily when the Cape Times reporter said she heard he had had a busy morning. Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said Ghost Squad members, patrolling the N2's bus lane, had pulled Mthembu over shortly after 7am because he was driving in the lane in a rented Audi A3 hatchback. "The officer had no idea who he was. She got a strong smell of alcohol on him, so wanted to arrest him. Soon afterwards, Skwatsha pulled over, even though he's not allowed in the bus lane, and told the officers they mustn't handcuff (Mthembu)."
Smith said the Ghost Squad members took Mthembu to the Mowbray police station, but "someone may have called ahead saying they're coming". "The officer at the desk was not keen on opening a case. A SAPS officer then made a comment that the metro police officers who arrested (Mthembu) should themselves be arrested."
The Ghost Squad members had then taken Mthembu to the Shadow centre. "His results showed 0.85, while the legal limit is 0.24, which means he was nearly four times over that ... We've got video footage and audio recordings from the second he was brought into the facility to the second he left," Smith said. Mthembu was then taken back to Mowbray police station, where a case was opened. An investigator looking into the matter said there were more problems at the station when SAPS officers gave the Ghost Squad two case numbers. If a wrong case number was placed on the breathalyser results, it could have been rejected by the court. He said once the correct case number was given, Mowbray police station's commissioner, May-Louise Dyers, had reprimanded the implicated members and sorted the matter out.
Skwatsha and ANC member Kholeka Mqulwana were also spotted at the station yesterday while Mthembu was being processed. He was eventually released on bail after 1pm. When the Cape Times contacted Skwatsha and asked him about the incident, he repeatedly responded: "No comment".
Source: IoL
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