Road safety manager fighting drunk-driving charges

The man tasked with leading the country's road safety campaigns allegedly drove a government car while he was drunk.

Thabo Tsholetsane, executive manager of the Road Traffic Management Corporation, has been fighting in court for the past few months to have his disciplinary hearing withdrawn for the alleged drunk-driving incident, which happened more than two years ago.

Tsholetsane has been at loggerheads with the corporation following an April 2009 incident when he was allegedly drunk while on a campaign to promote road safety.

In the case before the Johannesburg Labour Court, Tsholetsane - described in court papers as "government's face and head of public road safety in respect of motorists and pedestrians using public thoroughfares" - pleaded with the judge to instruct his bosses to withdraw the hearing against him and put the matter to rest.

Two weeks ago, after learning that his hearing would start this month, Tsholetsane applied for his Labour Court case to be heard as a matter of urgency, claiming that 29 months after the incident he was severely prejudiced and had suffered personal and financial harm.

In his affidavit, Tsholetsane says his employer delayed prosecuting him although the process began in February last year.

He also claims he was not drunk on that day in April 2009, but instead was severely assaulted by three men at a bar, which landed him in hospital, and he was booked off work for three months. The beating, he said, happened on his way back from promoting a road safety campaign.

In August 2009, he was informed of his suspension and disciplinary hearing set down for December.

The hearing only began the following February, but was then abandoned and Tsholetsane's suspension was lifted. However, three months later, Tsholetsane was told that the corporation asked for a legal opinion on the prospects of the disciplinary hearing. The opinion was finalised in September last year.

But this August, Tsholetsane was told that the hearing would go ahead to deal with the allegation that he was drunk while driving a company vehicle.

The hearing, for which he was charged with two counts of gross misconduct, was supposed to have gone ahead last week.

Tsholetsane is contesting the hearing on the basis that it took his employer more than 17 months to prosecute him. But the corporation, in its heads of argument, says Tsholetsane admitted he was drunk and was merely trying to avoid punishment.

His application was struck off the roll and Tsholetsane was ordered to pay the costs of two senior counsel. His lawyer, Willem Scholtz, said they were now applying to have the matter placed on the roll.