Eastern Cape Provincial Police Commissioner Nomthetheleli Mene and National SA Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola will appear in court on Thursday. File Picture: IOL
Eastern Cape Provincial Police Commissioner Nomthetheleli Mene and National SA Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola will appear in court on Thursday after they failed to adhere to a September 2022 court order.
The order called for them to take action to protect and prevent violence against long-distance coach passengers.
Coach carrier, Intercape has taken the top cops to court and made the application at the High Court in Makhanda.
It seems the company is taking a hardline approach and wants Mene and Masemola to be imprisoned for 90 days.
The cops, however, deny that they have not taken steps to protect travellers and argue they have taken steps to address the situation.
According to Moneyweb, there have been claims that Masemola is not present in the day-to-day police operations.
On Tuesday, Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira said that a number of attacks have been coordinated on the coaches and travellers.
These attacks have been part of a large scale operation by a certain faction by the taxi associations in the Eastern Cape to have a monopoly on key routes.
Ferreira argues that Mene and Masemola have failed to implement actions to impede these attacks as they are legally required to do.
“Since the court ruling 15 months ago, which instructed ministers and SAPS officials to prevent acts of violence and intimidation against Intercape, they have instead spent their time focused on appealing the multiple judgments handed down by the courts against them,” Ferreira said.
This faction of the taxi associations has made a number of demands that include that Intercape and other bus operators increase their prices and also limit the buses that operate in order to detract the public from using the service.
In April, Intercape was suing Police Minister Bheki Cele for also failing to stop the spate of attacks on their buses in the Eastern Cape.
Ferreira said under the “failed” leadership of Minister Cele and President Cyril Ramaphosa, parts of South Africa have been turned into a “Mafia state” where taxi operators rule with impunity.
“The fish rots from the head. We hold Minister Cele responsible for every failure of the police under his watch, and we will not stop until there is full accountability to the travelling public in South Africa,” he concluded.
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