Update

GEORGE NEWS - Four officers of the George Traffic Department have been placed on precautionary suspension pending an investigation into serious allegations of misconduct.

The internal investigation follows allegations made against the officers after a meat transportation truck belonging to Husky Transport in Kimberley overturned in the Outeniqua Pass on Saturday 17 June.

The truck allegedly ended up against the mountain face after the driver lost control in foggy, wet and very windy conditions. With the impact, the refrigerated truck tore open and carcasses scattered across the road. No other vehicles were involved and no serious injuries were reported.

It is believed that, during the clearing up of the accident scene, meat was loaded into one of J&B Towing's vehicles before it was taken to their depot in George. From here the officers allegedly helped themselves to some of the meat and loaded it into their official vehicle.

Before the scene was cleared, the pass was closed for traffic for some time and chaos allegedly erupted as word of the incident spread in town and people started looting the truck.

According to J&B's legal representative, Eckert Brand of Brand & Van der Bergh Attorneys, the meat that came from the truck was legally loaded into one of J&B's vehicles and taken to their depot.

J&B cleaned up

Brand says J&B Towing was assigned to clean up the scene and tow the meat truck away. This required them to remove the wreckage and the cargo and store it until an assessor from the insurer could decide what to do with it. That's when the traffic officers apparently arrived at the towing service's premises for their pound of flesh.

Brand said word of the incident spread through town quickly and the police could not control the looting.

"Amidst the chaos, J&B Towing did their best to load the carcasses and reopen the road while people carried on looting," he said.

At the towing service's depot, vehicles from the municipal traffic service allegedly drove in behind the towing vehicle and the traffic officers watched as the meat, which was apparently a very small part of the original load, was offloaded.

Brand says his client does not know why the traffic officers arrived at the depot and what the purpose of their visit was. 

"They were not there by invitation of my client. The officers were duly informed that no meat may be removed from the premises as they were storing it on behalf of the insurer," he said.

Correspondence between the assessor and the insurer, which was supplied to George Herald, states that the meat was deemed as contaminated and damaged.

On the same day, permission was therefore given to distribute it, as a dealer would not accept it. According to Brand the meat was then distributed among members of the community who arrived at the depot and the traffic officials.

Officers face serious allegations

Meanwhile the four traffic officers have been suspended with full remuneration until the investigation against them has been completed.

While George Municipality did not want to confirm the allegations made against the officers, George Herald reliably learned that they are facing allegations of dishonesty, bringing the name of the municipality into disrepute, failure to declare receiving of goods from a member of the public or a service provider, removing private property without authorisation and the unauthorised use of a municipal vehicle.

In response to a media enquiry about the suspension, allegations and investigation, the municipality's senior communications officer, Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe, said that it is not the policy of the municipality to discuss staff disciplinary processes with the media.

"With regard to receipt of salary while on suspension, we would like to confirm that a suspension is not a penalty, but a standard precautionary procedure in terms of labour law. The principle that one is innocent until proven guilty applies to the internal disciplinary processes of the municipality," he said.

Alleged reasons for the suspensions are the seriousness of the alleged misconduct, the fact that the presence of the officers might jeopardise the investigation at their workplace and to ensure that no further misconduct is committed.

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