I drove drunk - top cop

The top cop who was recently controversially appointed as a technology head by police commissioner General Bheki Cele has been slapped with a R20 000 fine for drunk driving.

Major-General Mzondeki “Sean” Tshabalala, the head of information and system management unit, pleaded guilty to charges of drunk driving at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on December 15, and was fined in an embarrassing case that the SAPS wanted to keep under wraps. In August 2008, Tshabalala, the former head of the VIP Protection unit during former president Thabo Mbeki’s term, crashed into a police patrol van on the corner of Gibson and Pretoria roads in Buccleuch, Sandton.

In the patrol car were three police officers who were responding to an armed robbery report. Tshabalala was off duty at the time, and was found in possession of a half-full bottle of Chivas Regal whisky.

Tshabalala is one of the top police officers recently shifted sideways by Cele in a controversial purge of cops who were perceived to be close to convicted former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

He was allegedly shifted from the VIP protection unit in June after he and two other senior officers failed to ward off allegations of infidelity between President Jacob Zuma’s wife MaNtuli and her bodyguard Phinda Thomo.

Sources in the police said Tshabalala, a former Mbeki bodyguard, had been significantly above the alcohol limit when he crashed into his colleagues’ car and that there had allegedly been attempts to tamper with his blood samples.

When The Sunday Independent approached Tshabalala for comment on Thursday, he said he would rather comment the following day. Subsequent attempts to get hold of him were unsuccessful.

Tshabalala joins the legion of high-profile South Africans who have been found on the wrong side of road regulations. They include ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu and Judge Nkola Motata.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Sally de Beer said Tshabalala had taken responsibility for his action and that a “disciplinary action” was taken against him in September last year. She refused to comment on the specifics of the sanction. - Sunday Independent