News / Local
BCC cop blamed in kombi crash
26 Feb 2016 at 05:41hrs | Views
A COMMUTER omnibus driver crashed his kombi through a shop window following a nasty struggle for the steering wheel with a Bulawayo municipal police officer, popularly known as uMakhokhoba.
The municipal police officer was reportedly part of a group that was clamping vehicles for illegal parking or picking passengers at undesignated points last Friday.
The local authority's senior public relations officer, Nesisa Mpofu, said she had not received a report about the incident.
She said council would investigate the incident that occurred around 10AM.
The scuffle, according to witnesses, started in front of the Royal Hotel along 6th Avenue and George Silundika Street and almost ended tragically near Stunts Sports Bar along Robert Mugabe Way when the kombi grazed a Coaster vehicle full of school children before going full tilt against iron bars into a vacant shop.
Pedestrians scurried out of the way as the kombi zigzagged across the street.
The kombi driver, Josphat Khumalo, told The Chronicle the council police officer approached him when he had just stopped in front of the Royal Hotel.
"As I tried to explain why I had stopped there, he threatened to clamp my vehicle. I told him I was leaving but he demanded that I get out of the car. Because I didn't want to argue with him, I started the car preparing to drive away. He jumped into the front passenger seat.
He grabbed the steering wheel and we wrestled as I drove off," said Khumalo.
He said the unidentified municipal police officer continued to wrestle him and tried to step on the brakes as the car careened down the street.
"After I crossed Robert Mugabe way, I turned to park the vehicle because the man was on top of me and I couldn't see where I was going.
He stepped on the accelerator and we narrowly missed hitting a Coaster which was full of school children," said the driver.
He said the kombi overshot the kerb and smashed into a shop.
"Luckily, the shop had strong burglar bars which blocked the kombi from going right through. Glass broke and the burglar bars bent."
Last week, oMakhokhoba allegedly throttled a vendor along Fort Street, between 5th and 4th Avenue. Vendors told The Chronicle that it was not the first time the municipal police have engaged in fights with vendors along that street.
In December, a man was hospitalised after he was allegedly beaten up by municipal police officers with rubber truncheons until he lost consciousness after they mistook him for a vendor.
The municipal police officer was reportedly part of a group that was clamping vehicles for illegal parking or picking passengers at undesignated points last Friday.
The local authority's senior public relations officer, Nesisa Mpofu, said she had not received a report about the incident.
She said council would investigate the incident that occurred around 10AM.
The scuffle, according to witnesses, started in front of the Royal Hotel along 6th Avenue and George Silundika Street and almost ended tragically near Stunts Sports Bar along Robert Mugabe Way when the kombi grazed a Coaster vehicle full of school children before going full tilt against iron bars into a vacant shop.
Pedestrians scurried out of the way as the kombi zigzagged across the street.
The kombi driver, Josphat Khumalo, told The Chronicle the council police officer approached him when he had just stopped in front of the Royal Hotel.
"As I tried to explain why I had stopped there, he threatened to clamp my vehicle. I told him I was leaving but he demanded that I get out of the car. Because I didn't want to argue with him, I started the car preparing to drive away. He jumped into the front passenger seat.
He said the unidentified municipal police officer continued to wrestle him and tried to step on the brakes as the car careened down the street.
"After I crossed Robert Mugabe way, I turned to park the vehicle because the man was on top of me and I couldn't see where I was going.
He stepped on the accelerator and we narrowly missed hitting a Coaster which was full of school children," said the driver.
He said the kombi overshot the kerb and smashed into a shop.
"Luckily, the shop had strong burglar bars which blocked the kombi from going right through. Glass broke and the burglar bars bent."
Last week, oMakhokhoba allegedly throttled a vendor along Fort Street, between 5th and 4th Avenue. Vendors told The Chronicle that it was not the first time the municipal police have engaged in fights with vendors along that street.
In December, a man was hospitalised after he was allegedly beaten up by municipal police officers with rubber truncheons until he lost consciousness after they mistook him for a vendor.
Source - chronicle
