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SUPPLIED
Aspirant traffic cops wait to run 4km in 30 minutes to pass the fitness test which will qualify them to go into the next round for one of 90 provincial posts. File photo; Supplied
Durban – One of the young men who died after a fitness test to become a traffic officer had a drinking problem, was overweight and had partied for two days before taking part in the test.
This was put to Mpumelelo Kunene – the sister of Lindokuhle Kunene, who died on the day of the tests – on her brother’s drinking habits by Ravi Padayachee SC.
Padayachee is appearing for the provincial transport department at an inquest into the death of eight job seekers in Pietermaritzburg in December last year.
Her response was that when she saw her brother, he was sober. While she admitted he drank, she said he was not an alcoholic, but she could not dispute a post-mortem report saying that his liver was in a condition indicating he had abused alcohol.
Her brother, a taxi driver from Newcastle, was among more than 32 000 people who had participated in the fitness tests for 90 traffic officer jobs.
The test entailed running 4km to qualify for the next phase of the process.
The job seekers waited in high temperatures to run, and the allegation is they were not given water or shade and this could have contributed to the deaths.
The commission has to determine if anyone should be held accountable.
Kunene told the commission she kept in touch with her brother by cellphone on the day he participated.
Late in the afternoon, he told her that he was still waiting to run and that people were collapsing. She advised him to persevere because she wanted him to get a job.
When she called again the phone was answered by a paramedic who told her her brother was being taken to hospital.
The last time she called, the phone was answered by a nurse, who said her brother was no longer breathing.
Padayachee put it to Kunene on Tuesday that her brother weighed more than 100kg. She responded that he was “fat but fit as well”.
The inquiry is continuing in Pietermaritzburg.
The Mercury
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