JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African woman seeking advice on Twitter about buying a driver’s license got more than she bargained for on Wednesday when her inquiry caught the eye of police minister and prolific tweeter Fikile Mbalula.
“It’s a criminal offence to buy a driver’s license (like a) ngathi ligwinya,” Mbalula tweeted back, using a local word for a doughnut. “It will get you, the traffic department and the driving school arrested.”
Mbalula, nicknamed “Razzmatazz” from his time as sports and recreation minister, has more than 750,000 Twitter followers and sees his personal feed as a useful tool in the fight against South Africa’s high crime rates.
South Africa’s traffic laws and regulations are tight by African standards although reports of driving instructors asking for bribes or people driving without a valid license are common.
(Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by James Macharia and Tom Heneghan)
