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A Roodepoort woman couldn’t be more thankful to a car guard who prevented a drunk driver from leaving when he crashed into her car.

Shelley Hartman from Roodepoort in Gauteng was at The Irish Rock with her husband, Nordan, sister, Tanya, and sister’s boyfriend, Deon, taking part when local car guard, Junior, rushed to them to inform them that an incident had occurred in the pub’s parking lot on 5 June.

“We followed him to our car (my mother’s car, which we always use when she’s babysitting) and saw a vehicle reversed into the side of it,” Shelley told YOU.

“In the vehicle were two clearly inebriated individuals who appeared to be searching for something.”

Junior had then explained to the mom-of-one, who was taking part in the pub’s quiz night, that the driver had reversed into her mom’s car and tried to drive away.

But a heroic Junior swiftly grabbed the drunk driver’s car keys and hid it in his jacket pocket for 45-minutes.

“He had quickly leaned in through the driver’s window and taken the key from the ignition, ensuring they couldn’t leave.

“The manager of the Irish Rock joined us and called the police and began taking details from the individuals – pictures of licenses, registrations, etc.

“Two policemen from Honeydew SAPS arrived and we explained the situation.

“They were extremely helpful and after scolding the two individuals they asked us how we would like to proceed.

“After getting the keys from Junior, the policeman hopped in the car and drove the two individuals’ home, promising they would call us with a case number for the incident,” Shelley added.

Shortly after driving the two individuals home, the police returned to the pub to bring Shelley the official docket with a case number.

“We went back to the quiz and to our immense surprise, the policemen arrived back shortly thereafter, having returned to the station, opening the case and driving back to the Irish Rock to give us the stamped case details so as not to further interrupt our night,” she said.

Shelley revealed that she is forever grateful to Junior, who she described as friendly and helpful.

“Thankfully no one was hurt, but thanks to some quick thinking from Junior and some great work by the police, we managed to stop the individuals from leaving and creating greater, potentially deadly, havoc on the streets.”

The first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the 6th Parliament will be a much more subdued affair, with a number of cost-saving measures announced by Parliament’s presiding officers.

One of them is that no imbongi (or praise singer) will usher President Cyril Ramaphosa into the chamber ahead of his address this year.

Parliament has budgeted around R2m for the address, well below the R9.2m spent on the SONA five years ago.

National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise said “we have budgeted just over R2m. That is the budget. That does not mean we want to expend all the money. I’m hoping that it does go down to below [R2m].”

“While various features that have traditionally characterised both the preparations and the actual SONA ceremonies have been modified for this address, the occasion will still preserve the decorum and solemnity of a key state event of this magnitude,” said National Assembly Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli on Thursday.

He said the modifications were made with the prevailing economic hardships that face most South Africans in mind, as well as expected unfavourable weather conditions.

Tsenoli added that they were mindful that the “ceremony takes place against the backdrop of a recent slump in our economy in the first three months of 2019, which Stats SA observed is the biggest quarterly fall in economic activity since the first quarter of 2009″. 

Fin24 previously reported that, if South Africa’s economy contracts again in the next quarter of 2019, the country will enter a recession.

“Appropriate cost-cutting measures are thus necessary.”

Full ceremonial parade by SANDF

Some of the cost containment and cutting measures that Parliament has undertaken include limiting certain aspects of public participation and doing away with the post-address dinner for MPs. There has also been a “drastic” reduction in the event marketing and advertising budget.  

Tsenoli confirmed that “…the junior guard and the civil guard who form a guard of honour for the state procession, the eminent persons, who are usually selected from provinces on the basis of their outstanding achievements in their respective fields, will also not be part of the ceremony”.

Following discussion with Ramaphosa, Parliament also decided to withdraw the imbongi which usually ushers presidents into the chamber ahead of the address.

“Nine lucky winners of a radio competition selected from each of our provinces to attend the joint sitting have also not been included for this event.”

Though there will be a full ceremonial parade of the South African National Defence Force, consisting of the Army, Navy and Airforce – including a salute flight by the Air Force – these additional costs are external and will be covered by the Department of Defence.

“The defence force might choose to do certain things or to cut down on certain things but it is their budget, it is their programme,” Modise said.