King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality mayor Nyaniso Nelani has reacted with shock at the arrests of seven municipal law enforcement officials on attempted murder, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and defeating the ends of justice.
Eastern Cape provincial police spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli confirmed the accused were arrested on Friday last week.
This came after an unregistered car washer was injured after being shot during a scuffle on June 30.
“The seven accused were linked to an incident of shooting that occurred in Mthatha,” Nkohli said.
“The case was postponed to December 13.”
The accused appeared in the Mthatha magistrate’s court on Friday. They were each granted bail of R1,000.
In a statement on Wednesday, Nelani said he was disappointed at the arrests as the officers from the municipality’s public safety unit had allegedly been attacked by a group of knife-wielding men and had defended themselves.
Nelani said the incident happened while the officials were on duty enforcing the car wash bylaw.
He urged members of the public to co-operate with law enforcement agencies and obey the law when approached.
Nelani said the municipality’s bylaw specified that no person may, in a public place, wash or clean any motor vehicle, except in an area designated by the municipality for that purpose.
When he became mayor, Nelani promised to transform Mthatha into a South African version of Kigali, the Rwandan city regarded as the cleanest on the African continent.
In 2019, he said he wanted to see no illegal car washers in town, saying they were contributing to degrading the town’s inner roads infrastructure.
He said the streets had taken a knock and were riddled with potholes and that he wanted unregistered car businesses to be moved to a centralised place as that would make it easier for KSD to support them with the equipment they needed.
“The water is just killing our roads. It is not just about adding dirtiness of the town, but our roads are degraded and have potholes in them because of that.”
Besides planning to relocate illegal car washing businesses, municipal bosses have also recently launched a paid parking system to get rid of lawlessness on the roads.
On Wednesday, Nelani said: “For those wishing to open a car wash or any other business, we urge you to approach the municipality for proper licensing.
“We are actively working to identify areas for car washers to operate legally.”
However, unregistered car washers such as Kholekile Mevana, who has been washing cars for more than a decade, have accused the municipality of harassing them and often confiscating their buckets and other equipment without warning.
Others argued that washing cars helped them put food on the table for themselves and their families, and that relocating them did not make business sense as their clients would be left behind.
Others said the plan was just a ploy to run them out of business as some officials in the municipality owned car washes.
Mthatha organised business leader Vuyisile Ntlabati has previously suggested that while the idea of creating a designated place to accommodate illegal car washers was valid, it should not be located outside the town as it would deprive them of customers.
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