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Last week, an uproar followed the posting of a video showing a “biker” riding a motorcycle recklessly in Edenvale whilst carrying a little girl who was wearing only a bicycle helmet for protection.  As at 11:00 on Thursday 5 September 2013, the video at http://youtu.be/ebjQ-R-fxsY had been viewed a little over 216,000 times.  Comments on this video have been disabled due to a number of threatening and offensive comments being posted by some people who viewed it and felt that the person who captured it is somehow in the wrong.
 
Immediately after becoming aware of the existence of this video on Monday 26 August 2013, Justice Project South Africa contacted a senior officer at the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department and a docket was subsequently registered with Edenvale SAPS by the EMPD and the Edenvale Community Policing Forum.
 
On Monday 26 August, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters tweeted:

Dipuo Peters ‏@DipuoPeters@JPSAorg @trompieza @FatalMoves @_ArriveAlive , he must really be arrested.Putting the child through this life risking experience.

Outrage has also been expressed by various biker and motorcycle rider groups who would dearly like to get hold of this man and “teach him a lesson” for endangering a child and bringing the biking community into disrepute.  Mob justice however can never be deemed to be the right thing to do.
 
On Monday 26 August, JPSA immediately posted an appeal for the person who captured the video to come forward and fortunately, this witness has come forward and provided a statement to Police during the course of last week.  Other witnesses have also contacted JPSA and identified the rider; however they wished to remain anonymous and would not provide statements.
 
From the information received, it is believed that the 51 year-old rider of the motorcycle was the child’s father who had acquired the motorcycle a short time ago.  Charges of Reckless or Negligent Driving, operating a motorcycle without possessing a valid licence to ride it and endangering a child in terms of the Children’s Act are included, amongst others in the docket.  These charges are very serious indeed and provide for a fine or imprisonment or both, a fine and imprisonment with up to 6 years imprisonment for Reckless or Negligent Driving and up to 20 years imprisonment for the charge under the Children’s Act.
 
The matter is being investigated by Lieutenant Colonel B Baloyi of Edenvale SAPS.  We would like to appeal to anyone else who witnessed this event and is prepared to make a statement to contact him on (011) 453 1134 or (082) 822 7978.  Media enquiries should not be directed to the investigation officer, but to the Communications Department of the South African Police Service.  The docket number is Edenvale CAS 472/08/2013.
 
JPSA is heartened by the fact that law enforcement authorities have taken this matter seriously and that something will be done about it.  We would specifically like to thank the motorist who captured the video footage for having the guts to do the right thing and come forward.  Taking a stand against crime is rarely the easy thing to do but without it, incidents like this will continue to happen, often with disastrous results.  Whilst the “naming and shaming” of motorists who break traffic laws has become popular on Twitter and YouTube, we do not believe that this does enough to address these issues.