Vice President’s armed guards terrify guests
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March 3, 2009 Journalist Max du Preez has launched a campaign against South Africa's 'arrogant VIP police protection units and their high-speed motorcades barrelling down the highways killing civilians'.
In the latest such incident, a group of armed men stormed into the lobby of a South African hotel lobby with guns drawn, terrifying everyone out of their wits. However these gun-toting men merely were the 'armed protection unit' for South African acting vice-president Baleka Mbeti.
Staffers and guests immediate raised the alarm with local police and the hotel's private security unit - believing they were being attacked by a large robber gang. This is understable: the country suffers from the largest number of armed robberies in the world. When guests discovered who these men really were, they all launched into an angry against the armed VIP protection unit -- and also against 'arrogant politicians and their high-speed blue light motorcades' endangering road users countrywide. Recently, one such blue-light motorcade carrying African National Congress party president Jacob Zuma killed a pedestrian. They did not stop.
We are getting sick and tired of these VIP-units
One hotel guest who spoke to Digital Journal shortly after the incident from Nelspruit said 'we are already so sick and tired of the country's politicians terrifying everyone with their arrogant behaviour on the roads. And then they come storming in here and scare us out of our wits in a hotel lobby, too'.
One hotel guest who spoke to Digital Journal shortly after the incident from Nelspruit said 'we are already so sick and tired of the country's politicians terrifying everyone with their arrogant behaviour on the roads. And then they come storming in here and scare us out of our wits in a hotel lobby, too'.
Blue light motorcades, VIP protection units:
The entire ANC-leadership has over the past five years, been taking to the roads in high-speed, no-holds-barred 'blue light' motorcades, often 20 cars or more with heavily armed VIP police protection units - who are drawn from regular police units which fight daily battles against the world's most violent crime rate.
And the hotel guests aren't the only ones who are irate about this. Many South African citizens said that they are become increasingly irate at the arrogance of the VIP cop units.
Our politicians turn us into a banana republic:
The entire ANC-leadership has over the past five years, been taking to the roads in high-speed, no-holds-barred 'blue light' motorcades, often 20 cars or more with heavily armed VIP police protection units - who are drawn from regular police units which fight daily battles against the world's most violent crime rate.
And the hotel guests aren't the only ones who are irate about this. Many South African citizens said that they are become increasingly irate at the arrogance of the VIP cop units.
Our politicians turn us into a banana republic:
Liberal, outspoken Afrikaans journalist Max du Preez recently launched a campaign to highlight the problem - calling on citizens to protest against these blue-light VIP protection motorcades at every turn, whenever they can. He said they are a danger on the road and the country's politicians shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.
Du Preez' hard-hitting column on the blue-light brigades and the arrogant behaviour of the VIP cop-units touched a powerful nerve across South Africa. The radio waves became crowded with outraged voices and bandwidth was being burned up in dozens of online forums in support of his attacks against the 'screaming blue-light motorcades' barrelling down the country's highways.
Zuma's motorcade killed a pedestrian For instance, Du Preez questioned why Jacob Zuma - who is the president of a political party, but not of the country, with the election only taking place on April 22 - should even be entitled to get 'a screaming, high-speed ten-vehicle cavalcade accompanied by cops who should be fighting crime instead. " Is Zuma even entitled to the cavalcade used wherever he goes, the one which killed a resident in Ulundi this week? Who is paying for it?"
Leader of Democratic Alliance uses one car, no protection unit:
"In contrast, while I was driving on the N1 out of Cape Town I noticed a gold-coloured Toyota Prius in the left lane. It was CA1, the official vehicle of Helen Zille - the Mayor of Cape Town who is also the Leader of the Official Opposition party....She was sitting in the back seat all on her own. No bodyguards were evident and she was definitely not in a convoy. Way to go, sister."
"I see the Gauteng regional head of the VIP Protection Unit, Commander Sean Tshabalala, was quoted this week lamenting the fact that the public "didn't respect" his unit.
"You've got that one right, comrade commander. If you want respect, get out of the cushy cavalcade and go and fight some crime. "We must bring our politicians back to earth. They're supposed to serve us, not victimise us,' the always outspoken Max wrote.
"We are a proud people, we South Africans," he wrote. "Which is why we should protest loudly when a bunch of politicians do their best to turn us into a banana republic. The next time one of these politicians’ convoys with five black Mercs or BMWs and five black SUVs bear down upon you with blue lights flashing and expect you to stop or rush to the side of the road, put on your hazard lights and blow your hooter until they’re out of earshot.
"In my case, I also wave my arms and utter the crudest obscenities I know in three languages if my child isn’t in the car with me. (I learnt to swear in Sesotho as a child, but no language can beat my mother tongue, Afrikaans, when it comes to swearing.)
"It is time every politician, whether he/she be the president, a minister, a premier, a provincial MEC or a mayor, took notice of how we citizens feel about their ridiculous sense of self-importance and their disregard of our rights. Write letters to the newspapers about it, phone radio talk shows and complain, get up at the next political rally and tell them what you think...."
Everybody believed it was an armed robbery:
Against this background, the sudden fear of guests in the lobby of the Nelspruit is also much more understandable: faced with this invasion of a large group of heavily armed uniformed men, who stormed into the lobby of the Nelspruit hotel with their guns at the ready, guests and staffers immediately pushed the emergency buttons.
"Everybody believed it was an armed robbery. So many armed robberies are carried out by large groups of armed men these days that we were all frightened at once when they walked into the lobby, it was like being hit by an electric shock, and we all took some kind of action. Some fell to the floor, others called the cops,' said guest, Jack van Rensburg. He was in the lobby of the upmarket 95-room City Lodge Road hotel in Nelspruit and said many people
In this lobby of the City Lodge Road Hotel in Nelspruit, guests were scared out of their wits when a large number of armed men stormed in, guns at the ready. They turned out to be the VIP protection unit for the country's Vice President, who had arrived in a high-speed bluelight motorcade to have a chat with local FIFA World Cup 2010 organisers. The hotel guests were furious. Vote it up!
"People in the lobby were frightened out of their wits when this huge group of men burst in, guns drawn,' he said.
World Football Cup 2010 So what was this urgent that the country's acting vice president, Mbeti, had to rush to Nelspruit in a highspeed bluelight motorcade -- and have his VIP guard unit storm into the lobby of the Town Road Lodge in Nelspruit with their guns drawn? He was merely there to hold some talks with the city's team coordinating World Cup 2010 football cup tournaments in the town. Probably could have done it by phone.
When these men stormed in, a receptionist at the Town Lodge also pushed the alarm-button to alert their private security company. Dick Strydom, manager of HiTech security in Nelspruit, confirmed that they received the alert shortly after 9.20pm.
He said their reaction units arrived at the hotel just seconds after the local SA Police, who had also responded to emergency calls from several guests and immediately spoke to the VIP unit members about their gun display. Police inspector Dawie Pretorius of the Nelspruit police confirmed the incident, but also said that 'none of the guests had laid any complaints.'
· City Lodge Hotels district manager Clifford Ross also confirmed that there had been a 'verbal disagreement' between the guests and the armed VIP unit. However he wasn't at the scene, and he quite understandably also tried to put a brave face on the incident. "It was brief and sorted out quickly,' he claimed. see
Zuma's motorcade needs 33 cars.
The high-speed blue light motorcades are 'entirely legal," says Collen Msibi, spokesman for the Transport Department, citing ‘article 176 of the Traffic Control Act which says police officials may disregard traffic signs in the execution of their duties.That includes the use of blue lights. People should remember that the president, his deputy, cabinet ministers and deputy ministers, premiers and MECs do not drive their own vehicles. Qualified members of the VIP unit - which is part of the police - perform that duty.' He was unable to say how Zuma, who is not the country’s president, even qualified for having such motorcades, however.
The high-speed blue light motorcades are 'entirely legal," says Collen Msibi, spokesman for the Transport Department, citing ‘article 176 of the Traffic Control Act which says police officials may disregard traffic signs in the execution of their duties.That includes the use of blue lights. People should remember that the president, his deputy, cabinet ministers and deputy ministers, premiers and MECs do not drive their own vehicles. Qualified members of the VIP unit - which is part of the police - perform that duty.' He was unable to say how Zuma, who is not the country’s president, even qualified for having such motorcades, however.
