Run if you dare: KZN's RTI operation puts reckless drivers on notice

In a striking demonstration of the efficacy of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and its Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI), the #NenzaniLaEzweni operation has emerged as a formidable force against reckless driving and other illegal activities on the province’s roads.

Running from law enforcement officials is evidently ill-advised, as many offenders have discovered to their peril.

However, when officers attempt to perform their duties effectively, some criminals choose to flee rather than face the consequences of their actions.

Consequently, officers are often forced to pursue and apprehend these individuals, with some of these chases being captured on camera.

Here are some of those chases (warning, some videos contain strong language): 

1. A taxi driver tried to run away on foot in Newcastle on December 28, but the RTI team stopped him in his tracks. 

KZN Department of Transport MEC Siboniso Duma said the driver tried to run away on foot but was quickly cornered by their energetic team.

In the video of the foot chase, the person recording can be heard saying “the RTI guys”, laughing, and reciting part of #NenzaniLaEzweni. 

In another shot, another person recording says: “Here’s the taxi driver. The man was running; they chased him and got him back.” 

He then asks the RTI officers if he is the person who ran away and failed to escape, to which they responded, “he failed to run away”. 

Speaking to the driver, the man recording tells him that you cannot run while drunk.

The RTI officers say the taxi driver must join the Comrades Marathon. While another says the driver made him run. 

2. It ended in tears, the department said, when a motorist driving under the influence of alcohol in Ramsgate, Port Shepstone, tried to run and hide inside a house. 

The motorist went through four red robots, drove towards oncoming traffic, and fled and hid inside a house. Additionally, his relatives tried to fight RTI officers, but a female RTI officer called for back-up, leading to the arrival of RTI and South African Police Service (SAPS) officers. 

In the video, RTI officers and police jump over a wall to locate the motorist. 

Looking over the wall, some of the officers say, “he is here”. 

Another says, “get out, sir” to the motorist and “stop pleading with him”, he said to officers. 

The officers instruct the man to jump over the wall. 

3. You would think RTI officers play rugby. On December 12, a man trying to escape was tackled and arrested by RTI officers in Park Rynie, South Coast. 

He said it was fear and tried to apologise, but none of his explanations helped. 

In the video, the motorist is on his knees, and he says that if he were a criminal, he would not go back, but because the RTI officers are conducting their duties and he was also working, he would not make a fool of them. 

Duma said that, like other motorists, he was to spend a weekend in police cells for drunk driving. 

4. On December 6, a taxi driver fled on foot into dense bushes during a #NenzaniLaEzweni Operation, leaving his passengers and the minibus taxi behind. The taxi was later impounded while the RTI Park Rynie team traced the taxi owner. 

The RTI managed to snap a picture of him while running in the bushes. 

5. At 2.30am on November 30, a man tried to run away after he was arrested and processed during an operation on Florida Road, but was rearrested. This resulted in him facing more charges, including drunk driving. 

In a video, a motorist is pulled out of a vehicle while saying he was sorry. But when he got a chance, he fled, disappeared between houses, and into dark streets. Unfortunately, he did not count on the RTI team.

When he was caught, RTI officers told him that his actions resulted in injury to an officer.

“I’m sorry,” the motorist says repeatedly. 

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