Many resident’s faith in the justice system was somewhat restored this week when they witnessed a traffic official being issued a parking fine for stopping on a "disabled persons only" parking zone at the Makhado Crossing shopping complex.

The traffic official was reported by a very irate business owner at the shopping complex after he saw the traffic official (in full uniform and in his traffic control vehicle) park on the disabled person’s parking zone to "quickly rush into the mall to buy a cool drink". One resident even left a note on the windscreen, telling the official that he could be fined R300 for disregarding the same traffic laws he is supposed to uphold.

The Zoutpansberger was also contacted; we in turn visited the scene and then contacted Supt Jan Zitha, the Makhado Municipality’s traffic chief.

Supt Zitha immediately rushed to the scene and even went so far as to capture the traffic vehicle that was unlawfully parked on a disabled person’s parking zone on video. He then radioed in the help of another traffic official, who arrived minutes later.

By that time, the offending traffic official had returned to his vehicle and was very surprised to find his senior waiting for him. The official then demanded to know who had reported him and Supt Zitha had to calm the official down. Shortly afterwards, Supt Zitha instructed the official he had radioed to start writing his colleague a traffic fine for R500.

In commenting on the incident, Supt Zitha said that everyone needs to be treated equally when it comes to the law. He said that when one of his officials broke the law, he would not hesitate to treat him or her the same way as any other road user is treated when disregarding traffic rules.