Three police officers lose arbitration application challenging their dismissal for bribery and corruption
Three police officers arrested and criminally charged for corruption have lost an arbitration between themselves and the South African Police Services.
The three were arrested by the Road Traffic Management Corporations’ National Traffic Anti-corruption Unit in 2018 and 2019 during undercover operations on the N4 in Mpumalanga targeted at corrupt police and traffic officers who solicit bribes from motorists.
The undercover agents used marked notes which were handed to the officers on duty. The officers were recorded on video and audio during all three incidents. They were subsequently arrested and charged with misconduct. They were found to be in contravention of Regulation 5(4)(f)(Corruption) of the SAPS Disciplinary Code and dismissed on 27 August 2019.
The officers – Sergeant DM Ntuli, Constable EE Sibanyoni and Constable SL Mila – applied to the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council for arbitration claiming they were unfairly dismissed however they lost as recorded evidence clearly indicated they had acted unlawfully despite their denial of allegations against them.
They were also criminally charged according to the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act no 12 of 2004 which states that “any public officer who directly or indirectly accepts, agrees or offers to accept any gratification from any other person, whether for the benefit of himself or for the benefit of another person, in order to act personally or by influencing another person so to act, in a manner that amounts to any unauthorised or improper inducement to do or not to do anything is guilty of the offence of corruption”
One officer has been found guilty and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment suspended for 5 years. The other two are awaiting trial.
The outcomes of these trials provides further evidence that the work of our anti-corruption team is bearing fruit. We call on members of the public to assist by reporting suspicions of traffic related corruption to [email protected](link sends e-mail) or on Whatsapp line 0832937989.
Source: Government of South Africa