Late Wesley Richard Woodman RIP

 

 

 

 

 

News Channel

Traffic Services Stats

The City of Cape Town Highway Ghost Squad arrested six suspects for drunk driving and another suspect for reckless and negligent driving during routine patrols this weekend.

On Sunday morning 31 March 2013, during routine patrols along the N2 towards Somerset West, officers arrested three suspects for driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor. One breathalyser test registered 0,91 mg of alcohol per 1 000ml of breath.

On Saturday morning 30 March 2013, an officer o the Highway Ghost Squad on a motor cycle arrested a suspect on the N2 at Bhunga Avenue for being under the influence of liquor when he overtook other motorists on the shoulder of the N2 towards Cape Town. The breathalyser test registered 0,92 mg of alcohol per 1 000ml of breath.

In the early hours of  Friday morning 29 March 2013, officers of the Highway Ghost Squad arrested an 18 year-old motorist for reckless and negligent driving when he came speeding past officers along Modderdam Road towards the N2. The suspect jumped 15 red traffic lights before  he lost control of the vehicle and collided with a lamp post along Turfhall Road in Hanover Park. It is alleged that the suspect was participating in an illegal street race along Modderdam Road in Bellville.

A few hours later, Officers noticed two vehicles on the incorrect side of the road along Vanguard Drive before Klipfontein Road in Athlone. When the suspects spotted the officers, they sped off on the incorrect side of the roadway. Both drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of liquor and reckless and negligent driving.
Traffic Services commenced Operation Exodus on Wednesday 27 March until Thursday 28 March 2013, to monitor all vehicles leaving Cape Town’s public transport interchanges.

Traffic Officers were dispatched to public transport interchanges, focusing on Joe Gqabi, Mfuleni, Cape Town Station and Bellville, so that they could patrol the areas and prevent illegal ranking. The Officers tested every vehicle that left Cape Town’s public transport interchanges for vehicle fitness. Any vehicles that were not declared roadworthy were suspended and prohibited from travelling further. Officers also ensured that all driver and vehicle documentation was in order prior to the vehicle’s departure.

A record will be kept of all public transport vehicles leaving public transport interchanges and this information is shared with other Departments and key role-players. Such information-sharing is crucial because it allows Traffic Services to keep a record of the trip schedule and any roadworthy checks that have already been performed.

As part of the operation, officers screened vehicle loads, especially those of trailers. Any vehicles suspected of over-loading were taken to the nearest weighbridge and goods were off-loaded if necessary.

Cop, motorist gunned down

 

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 7:28 AM

A Cape Town traffic officer and a motorist were shot dead on Wednesday in Lavender Hill, Cape Town, Western Cape police said.

A double murder case was being investigated, Captain Frederick van Wyk said.

Two men shot the driver of a Toyota Corolla on Prince George Drive at around 9am, as well as the officer issuing him with a traffic fine. The driver — who some reports have identified as a local gangster — died on the scene.
Wesley Woodman, the 35-year-old traffic officer who stopped the car, was rushed to hospital. He died on Wednesday afternoon.

City of Cape Town safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith said the officer had stopped the Toyota for a broken tail-light, and that the men had approached him from behind. He said at the time that two men had apparently been arrested.

Smith said should no arrests be forthcoming, the city would offer a reward for information and get the special investigating unit on the case.

Acting mayor Ian Neilson said Woodman would be remembered as a man who was targeted while ensuring the law was obeyed in Cape Town. Woodman was a senior traffic officer with 14 years of experience. His service firearm was stolen in the attack.

Killed on Duty

 

• Cape Argus
• natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za

  Traffic officer Wesley Woodman flags down motorist – then both are shot dead

A TRAFFIC officer and motorist were shot dead in broad daylight yesterday in Prince George Drive in the latest deadly gang violence in Lavender Hill.

Wesley Woodman, a traffic officer, had pulled Shuaib Afradien over at about 10am and was issuing him a ticket when both were gunned down.

Arafdien was allegedly a member of the Junkie Funkies gang.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said: “Officer Woodman, a traffic officer for 14 years, was issuing a traffic fine to a motorist when shots were fired by unknown assailants – killing the motorist and wounding the officer in the head.

“Woodman was taken to Groote Schuur Hospital, where he later died due to the severity of his injuries.”

Woodman’s service firearm was stolen during the incident.

“On behalf of the residents of Cape Town, I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to his family, who have tragically lost a husband and father.

“I condemn this senseless act and the callous and cruel behaviour of the perpetrators,” Neilson said.

Ironically a month ago, on February 21, Woodman wrote about the loss of a colleague and friend on his Facebook page:

“Another friend! Another colleague... gone! How many more do we have to lose! My family in law enforcement, we all grieve together, we all bleed together! Again I recite the officers’ prayer! Take care, My Family!”

Woodman was married with three children.

Kevin Southgate, chairman of the community police forum, said it was sad that an officer of the law was shot when he was only doing his job.

“It shows how vulnerable police were distraught while standing at the murder scene, declined to comment. But his former girlfriend and mother of two of his children, Natalie Rhodes, sat teary-eyed at her home in Lavender Hill.

Her sister, Natasha, said that while Arafdien had been a member of the Junkie Funkies, he was also a good person.

“Every Sunday he came to visit and fetch cake from my mom.”

Another sister, Crystal, said it was sad his children would grow up without knowing their father.

“We grew up together. He was quiet and came from a decent family.”

Traffic Services Stats

20 MARCH 2013
Traffic Services
City Traffic Officers clamped down on drunk drivers this weekend, arresting 39 suspects at various roadblocks across the city.

On Sunday 24 March 2013, Officers conducted an operation focusing on illegal drag-racing in the Bellville, Mitchells Plain and Sea Point areas. Two suspects were arrested for reckless or negligent driving after they were caught illegally drag-racing along Modderdam Road in Bellville.

Also on Sunday, Officers stopped a vehicle at Beach Road and Helen Suzman Boulevard in Sea Point because it looked as though its suspension had been lowered. The driver did not have any form of identification on him, and was taken to the nearest Traffic Department while waiting for his Identity Document to be brought in. He was charged with driving without a licence and the vehicle was suspended as it was not roadworthy.

Officers noted that the passengers in the vehicle appeared very nervous. They searched them and found the 20 year-old passenger in possession of two small bank bags of dagga and the 17 year-old passenger in possession of a dagga pipe and a small amount of dagga. A small amount of dagga was also found in a tog-bag in the car. The two suspects were arrested for possession of illegal narcotics.

Officers issued 767 fines for various offences, including:
21 vehicles suspended for not being roadworthy
46 for failure to wear safety belts
82 for unlicensed drivers
29 for unlicensed motor vehicles
26 for failure to display number plates
435 speeding offences on Helen Suzman Boulevard, between Buitengragt and Portswood Road
61 speeding offences on Vanguard Drive, between Zenith and Heideveld Roads

On Friday 22 March 2013, Officers held a roadblock on Vryburger Avenue in Bothasig, resulting in the arrest of eight suspects for driving under the influence of alcohol. The highest breathalyser reading registered at 0,70mg of alcohol per 1 000ml of breath. In addition, 16 traffic violations were also recorded.

Also on Friday, another 13 drunk drivers were arrested in Somerset West, one of whom had a breathalyser reading of 0,93mg of alcohol per 1 000ml of breath. The driver of a security firm was arrested for being in possession of a fraudulent licence token on the company’s light delivery vehicle; and a further 55 traffic violations were recorded.

Officers arrested 13 suspects for driving under the influence of alcohol at a roadblock in Main Road, Wynberg on Friday. The highest breathalyser reading registered at 0,99mg of alcohol per 1 000ml of breath.

End - Media City of Cape Town

City bus company under fire

 

• 28 Mar 2013
• Cape Argus
• Murray Williams STAFF WRITER

Mayor accuses Golden Arrow of acting against poor

THE MAYOR of Cape Town has accused the Golden Arrow Bus service of sabotaging its efforts to correct apartheid’s impact on the city – and has lambasted the leading figures behind the bus service.

PICTURE: RYAN JACOBSFOR THE PEOPLE

MyCiTi buses will benefit the poor of Cape Town, says mayor Patricia de Lille

In an extraordinary attack yesterday, Patricia de Lille said the bus service was acting against the MyCity bus service – and thus against the interests of Cape Town’s poorest citizens.

De Lille said the city was using its MyCiti bus services to help undo the impact of apartheid on communities which found themselves strewn across greater Cape Town, with virtually no transport networks connecting them. This was “the physical expression of the apartheid system mapped in urban geography”, De Lille said.

The first phase had been rolled out in time for the 2010 World Cup, followed by the CBD and up the West Coast. There was also a public commitment to provide the service to Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha by the end of the year.

De Lille said the city had engaged with stakeholders, including Golden Arrow, to bring various modes of transport together into one coherent network.

But Golden Arrow had thrown a spanner in the works by taking the city to court a fortnight ago, in an attempt to guarantee a role for their bus service.

“I am astonished that that a company like Golden Arrow is seeking to block an initiative that will directly benefit the poor of this city, especially given the ownership of Golden Arrow.”

She said the bus company was owned by Hosken Consolidated Investments, which had the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union as its majority shareholder.

“Indeed, many of its directors are from Sactwu or are former unionists. Does Marcel Golding, the executive chairman of HCI, support Golden Arrow’s action?

Mr Golding is a former general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.

“Does the CEO, Anthony Copelyn, a former general secretary of Sactwu, support it?” (It is assumed she meant Johnny Copelyn.)

“(T)here are few contradictions more apparent, or greater ironies, than the fact that a union-backed company is opposing one of the most profoundly socially transformative projects of a generation, one that will change the lives of poor people in Cape Town.

“It is a brutal reality for the poor that their would-be champions choose to be brave only when behind a megaphone and not when making financial decisions behind the closed doors of the boardroom,” De Lille charged.

Golden Arrow was last night studying De Lille's attack, but had not yet responded.

Nor had Golding or Copelyn responded to De Lille's challenge.