Eastern Cape MEC for roads, transport and safety Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe expressed her deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of a traffic officer who died in a car crash on Friday.

The officer was on a Covid-19 deployment.

The deceased officer, Frans Schoeman, was travelling back from Abeerdan station on the border of Western Cape where he was deployed  when the vehicle he was driving accidentally hit a kudu and veered of the road and overturned on R63 between Graaf-Reeinet and Janesville.

"Officer Schoeman was one of the sharpest minds in the field of traffic law enforcement in the province. He always provided sound leadership and was also a mentor and exemplary officer to our new recruits. It is for that reason that we deployed him to one of the busiest cross border entry points to the province, at a time of the ongoing national lockdown, as the country pulls at all stops to curb the transmission of coronavirus," said Tikana- Gxothiwe.

MEC Tikana Gxothiwe described the loss of officer Schoeman as a massive blow to the Eastern Cape traffic department.

According to the Eastern Cape department of transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose, Schoeman had over 20 years of experience in traffic law enforcement and was due to retire this year.