“WHY ARE prisoners pushing a cop van?” asked angry people who saw the pictures. But the mystery has been solved.
The men in orange were just workers from a private company! The pictures on social media included the caption: “Their transport broke down and prisoners decided to get out and push it!”
And in the photo taken on Monday in Nelson Mandela Drive, near Daily Sun’s office in Bloemfontein, it does look as if helpful prison inmates are helping to kick start a broken down police van – without supervision.
Many people also believed the van was taking the prisoners to Bloemfontein Magistrates Court from Grootvlei Prison.
But the true story has come out.
The men in orange were workers at a motor car workshop and the van was being taken for repairs to Car Service City, where the staff’s uniform is orange.
General manager of the business, Johan de Beer, was surprised when he heard about the picture on the internet and that many people thought his workers were prison inmates.
“The police van has been with us to repair since Friday,” said De Beer.
“It had wiring problems. The van from the Fauresmith police was being pushed from our workshop to the auto electrician in Henry Street when the photo was taken. They are not prison inmates. It was just an unfortunate coincidence.”
Police spokesman Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said they were aware of the picture.
“We managed to trace the van and saw it was booked in for repairs. When the photo was taken, it was at an external service provider. It was unfortunate that the people who were pushing our car were wearing orange like prison inmates. We were not transporting sentenced prisoners wearing prison clothing.”
Makhele said they would speak to the garage to make management aware of the negative impact of their clothing.
Viewers on Facebook commented before the mystery was solved.
John PC May wrote: “You still get honest criminals.”
Mandisa Falake: “I would run for my freedom even if shortlived. That will teach the police to take care of their cars.”
Mpho Ya Maila: “They are probably close to parole or release.”
Commodore Mokgosi commented: “This is not supposed to happen under any circumstances. These policemen are out of order!”
