The viral video circulating on social media that captured a tense and emotional verbal exchange between a mother and a Department of Transport official.
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A viral video circulating on social media captured a tense and emotional verbal exchange between a mother and a Department of Transport official, following her son's arrest for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol on Sunday night in Durban.
According to authorities, officers from the KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) arrested several motorists during a weekend operation targeting drunk driving across the province.
The widely shared clip, labelled “Concerned parents arrived to post bail,” shows the mother openly reprimanding her son after his arrest.
In the video, a Department of Transport official engages with the upset mother, asking about the scolding. She confirms it was directed at her son, expressing disbelief at the situation.
“My son. Wrong company. How nice. So now that's why he's here. First time in my life, first time in my life I've experienced something like this,” she said.
When asked whether her son had been drinking and driving, the mother responds, “Yeah, he was driving his friend's car. Driving for his friend. The friend left him and ran away.”
The apparent abandonment by the friend drew a shocked reaction from the bystander, to which the mother replied, “Yeah, gone. So nice. Very nice. I like that. You know why? That must be a lesson for him.”
She further explained that the group was returning from a car show at the time of the incident.
The mother’s frustration escalated in the video as she defended her reaction to her son’s actions.
“I'm upset with him. I don't tolerate s***. You can be my son, you can be my neighbor, you can be my friend. Right is right and wrong is wrong,” she says.
She added that she wanted to physically reprimand her son but a constable warned her against doing so.
“I wanted to hit him. The constable already said that I have to lock you up if you do that. I'll hit him. I won't waste time. I'm not afraid,” she stated.
The video also highlighted the financial and personal strain the incident placed on her.
She said she had been unemployed for four months due to health issues and was awaiting payment from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
“I'm not even working. That's why I had to ask for his card because I'm not going to have money for bail,” she explained.
The Department of Transport official said the son would likely remain in custody until Tuesday because today's public holiday (Monday) delayed court proceedings, at which point the conversation ended.