Fired traffic officer linked to missing bullets

ENDUMENI (Dundee) Municipality has fired the traffic official who allegedly allowed his son to carry out official municipal duties during the Covid-19 lockdown, even though he wasn't a council employee.

Frik Coetzee told the Independent on Saturday that he was given the marching orders last Monday but says it was for other trumped up charges as the municipality couldn't prove that his son had been working without permission and in an official uniform.

“You're quite correct by saying that I got fired. And I did take the case to the bargaining council because I want to prove my innocence in this regarding my son. But there was also a criminal case opened against me and my son. And then the Director of Public Prosecutions did not prosecute. So what that means is that there was not enough evidence to say that my son acted as a traffic officer,” said Coetzee.

He said his son’s ‘traffic duty’ came to light during Covid when private security companies worked with municipal officers to enforce lockdown regulations. Because his son was a security guard, he was wearing a uniform and the two of them were filmed as they watched another official reprimand a driver who was suspected of driving under the influence. That footage, said Coetzee, was posted on social media.

In an official letter seen by the Independent on Saturday and signed by Endumeni Municipal Manager Sithembiso Ntombela, Coetzee is told that he has been fired for misconduct.

“The Chairperson has issued a recommendation/ sanction of dismissal. “The municipal manager hereby implements the recommendation/ sanction and advises you that you are dismissed with immediate effect.” He is also told that he has 30 days in which he can challenge his dismissal at the South African Local Government Bargaining Council and that he has to return all municipal property in his possession.

Shortly after he returned his uniform this week, Coetzee said that he now faced several charges that were so bizarre that they dated back to 1989 when he was a matric pupil in Witbank in Mpumalanga. He said after school he went to do his compulsory army training and was also employed before moving to KwaZulu-Natal with his family.

While he did not want to disclose what those charges were for, he said that he and his family were living in fear and they felt that their lives had been in danger since the ordeal started. He said shots had been fired outside his house in the dead of the night and they had previously woken up to a dead bird hanging on their gate, probably as a warning.

“I've been working for this municipality for 25 years and it's the first time that I've ever been charged in my working career, the first time that I've been charged for anything for that matter, not even mentioning misconduct. I'm known in the community as the person that abides by the law… it's unfortunate that I cannot expose the charges to you but at this stage, it's going to jeopardize my case.”

At present Coetzee faces at least 11 other charges and while he would not open up about those, the Independent on Saturday understands that he has been linked to the disappearance of at least 600 rounds of ammunition from the municipality. Before he was suspended and then fired, Coetzee was the firearms officer and the ammunition went missing under his watch.

The rounds of ammunition were for various calibres of firearms and their disappearance was discovered during the “handing-over” period.

Although he did not mention names, the Municipal Manager previously told the Sunday Tribune that: “When the official was suspended, he had to hand over his work pistol and it was at this time that we discovered that the number of bullets recorded was not corresponding with the actual number of bullets in the municipality’s possession.” Ntombela said.

Apart from the charge of putting his son on municipal duty, all the other charges came once he was suspended. It’s understood that Coetzee is the subject of a multi-pronged investigation by the police and the Hawks.

Ntombela could not be reached for comment this week.