Three police officers who had been arrested and criminally charged for corruption have lost an arbitration between themselves and the South African Police Services (SAPS) to keep their jobs.

“They were arrested by the Road Traffic Management Corporations’ (RTMC) 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 RTMC said on Monday.

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,” RTMC said.

The officers applied to the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council for arbitration claiming they were unfairly dismissed. However, they lost as the 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.

One of the officers has been found guilty and sentenced to four years imprisonment suspended for five 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 ntacu@rtmc.co.za or on WhatsApp line 0832937989,” the RTMC said. 

Source: South African Government News Agency