ALI MPHAKI
T WO police officers have been arrested for allegedly soliciting a R10 000 bribe from a motorist, saying he was driving an unroadworthy car.
The two West Rand Flying Squad officers – a constable, 36, and a 40-year-old warrant officer – stopped a motorist on Tuesday and inspected his vehicle.
Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale said they told the driver his vehicle was unroadworthy. They then asked him to pay them R10 000 so that they could forget about the “offence” and let him go.
The man negotiated until the officers agreed to take R6 000.
“The motorist explained he had only R3 000 at his home. The officers accompanied him to fetch the cash,” said Mogale.
“After getting the money, they arranged to get the balance (at an agreed location). The motorist then informed the police (the same day).
“When the warrant officer arrived at the agreed location at the agreed time in Dobsonville, police pounced on him,” said Mogale.
“The second suspect was later picked up in Kagiso.”
The two will appear in the Kagiso Magistrate’s Court on charges of corruption.
According to the SA Police Service’s annual report for 2009/2010, 362 members have been charged under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, with 193 having being suspended.
Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) spokesman Moses Dlamini said they did not readily have the latest figures on police officers charged with corruption as they were finalising their 2010 report. However, he said, there was an upward trend in complaints received by the ICD.
Mogale said the arrests were in line with Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros’s pledge to root out bad apples within the force. After his appointment last year, Petros issued a strong warning to his officers to “stop being corrupt or face arrest”.
He said the fight against corruption was one of the Gauteng police’s strategic pillars. “Members were informed that if they were corrupt, they had better quit or face arrest. Corruption in our midst won’t be tolerated.”
Petros introduced sector policing in the province, aimed at creating a better relationship between the police and the communities they served. He has opened a channel through which the public can report corruption.
In another incident, two Soweto policemen are facing corruption charges for allegedly soliciting bribes.
Warrant Officer Bongimusa Brian Mthethwa and co-accused Warrant Officer Mandlenkosi Mchunu, of the Lenasia South police station’s vehicle investigations unit, are alleged to have set up a roadblock near Snake Park on April 25.
They stopped a man in a bakkie and allegedly demanded R6 000 for driving a “stolen vehicle”. The man phoned his wife to bring R3 000, which he said was all he could give them. He then laid a charge, and the officers were arrested on May 13. At the time, Mthethwa was out on bail for a similar alleged offence.