Drunken Cops: Standerton Brigadier Crashes Into Wall As Middelburg WO Nabbed After Accident Blooper

• Two separate incidents of police officers' driving misconduct in Standerton and Middelburg, Mpumalanga, have been reported
• A recently surfaced video online showed a Standerton cop seemingly asleep behind the wheel of a state vehicle he had crashed
• In the Middelburg case, an officer allegedly drove the state vehicle he was using into another motorist and fled the accident scene
• Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Lt-Col Jabu Ndubane, said the two incidents involved a Brigadier and Warrant Officer

Tshepiso Mametela is a seasoned journalist and the Head of Current Affairs at Briefly News. He reported live from President Cyril Ramaphosa's inauguration and has written articles on politics, crime, courts, accidents, and topics including sports at The Herald and Opera News SA over several years.

MPUMALANGA — It's all happening in Mpumalanga after a report of a drunk officer and a video of another, more senior one, after he crashed into a wall.

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In the first case, a recently surfaced video of a Standerton police officer after he crashed a marked state vehicle into private property, made the rounds online.

Brigadier, Warrant Officer mishaps

The @VehicleTrackerz X page posted the clip, which horrified onlookers filmed.

"A drunk police officer was recorded after losing control of the state vehicle and hit the wall in Standerton. The officer blacked out after the incident," read the caption of the material posted on Thursday, 6 March 2025.

The incident reportedly happened four years earlier, on Thursday, 20 February 2021, with newer information from Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Lt-Col Jabu Ndubane, indicating he was a senior policeman.

Ndubane told Briefly News the brigadier at Standerton police station was later dismissed for unrelated misconduct.

"According to the information, the member was dismissed for other offences. He passed away in 2024," Ndubane told Briefly News.

In the 65-second X clip, onlookers can be heard exclaiming as they assessed the damage after the officer's disastrous accident.

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One of them is heard saying:

"Hayi, suka! Dis nie lekker om ander swart mense te raporteer nie. Nee, no way, whoo! Jerr, die man is in kak."

The narrator, who continues to speak in a surprising tone, indicates, translated in English, that it wouldn't be nice to report a fellow Black person.

She later adds:

"Yhoo, nangu umuhlolo wethu (what a surprise!)"

At the time, it was reported that the incident had occurred in the early morning hours while the officer was intoxicated.

Police management later refuted that the officer was intoxicated, chalking the accident down to a medical condition, temporarily causing automatism.

"This medical attack was unknown to him and he has never before suffered from it," said police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi.

Responding officers to the incident found him unconscious before using another key to open the door and rendering assistance.

Police also opened a reckless and negligent driving case.

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In the second incident, Ndubane told Briefly News that a Middelburg Warrant Officer was arrested on 15 March for drunk driving and reckless and negligent driving.

A hit-and-run charge was also added after the officer, using a state vehicle, drove into a Ford Ranger at the corner of Cowen Ntuli and Wes streets at about 7pm. Ndubane said the officer fled and the private vehicle driver pursued him.

While in pursuit, the civilian called Middelburg police to report the incident.

"The complainant followed him onto John Magagula Street and caught up to him before he reached the Middelburg police station. The responding officer, another warrant officer, quickly established that the [offending officer] worked at court as a bailiff," said Ndubane.

"The officer attending the scene switched off the state vehicle, and he noticed that the member was under the influence of liquor. A few beers were found inside the state bakkie. The member was arrested, and taken to Middelburg Hospital for his blood to be drawn [and tested]."

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There have been other vehicle crashes involving police officers driving state vehicles in other provinces, such as when a state vehicle landed on its roof in a canal in a single-car collision in Cape Town on Wednesday, 30 October 2024.

In another instance, highlighting that they can sometimes turn fatal, a constable travelling in a state vehicle died in a head-on collision on the R34 Emondlo Road near Vryheid on 30 December.

A Mooinooi police constable was killed in a single-vehicle collision on the N4 near Majakaneng village, outside Rustenburg, on Saturday, 25 January 2025.

Source: Briefly News