VIP drivers should 'stick to speed limits'

VIP drivers for MECs should stick to the speed limits, a senior legal services officer told the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Tuesday.

Christoffel van Niekerk, of the KwaZulu-Natal department of community safety and liaison, said VIP drivers should not speed and should give themselves enough time when fetching MECs.

Van Niekerk said MECs had no authority to give instructions to their drivers, as only commanding officers were allowed to give instructions.

He was testifying in the attempted murder trial of Hlanganani Nxumalo, the bodyguard of former KwaZulu-Natal social development MEC Meshack Radebe.

Nxumalo faces six charges of attempted murder.

He allegedly shot the tyre of a Mazda near Camperdown while he was driving his colleague Caiphus Ndlela to fetch Radebe in November 2008.

The shot caused the driver to lose control of his vehicle, veer into oncoming traffic and collide head-on with a bakkie.

Nxumalo told the court last year that the driver of the Mazda had posed a danger to them and had tried to bump them off the road.

He claimed that he warned the driver to slow down by signalling to him, and got an obscene gesture in response.

Van Niekerk said he could not comment on how drivers should react if they were pushed to the edge of the road, as was alleged by Nxumalo.

The prosecution and defence are expected to make closing arguments on May 16.