This week, three police officers are scheduled to appear in court after being detained for failing to open a case and register confiscated illegal cigarettes.
On Friday, September 30, 2022, three officers between the ages of 35 and 38 were arrested on allegations of corruption committed in July in the Zaaiplaas police district near Groblersdal, Limpopo.
The spokesperson for the South African Police Service, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, said that the three constables stationed at the Zaaiplaas Police Station were detained for failing to start a case and register illegal cigarettes recovered from a nearby gas station on Tuesday, July 12, 2022.
Instead, the police officers placed the owner in the back of a police vehicle, drove away with him, and then abandoned him in the woods.
They then left with four cartons of illegal cigarettes.
“The Provincial Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit arrested the suspects in Polokwane after investigations indicated that they never registered the case and the cigarettes.The three officers,Vusi Sepoto, (35), Mulase Jakonea Lamola,(37), and Malose Oscar Makhafola,(38), will appear again in the Groblersdal Magistrate’s on 7 October for bail application,” Mojapelo said.
A 27-year-old man posing as a police officer was also detained for corruption after he reportedly sought a payment to dismiss proceedings against a man accused of rape.
The defendant reportedly requested R7,600 to bargain with the prosecutor, according to the SAPS. The suspect phoned the victim once again and requested an extra R2,400. The situation was reported to the police, which led to the suspect’s detention. Bail application was postponed until October 4 in his case.
Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, the Commissioner of Police for Limpopo, welcomed the arrests. Hadebe said that neither SAPS personnel nor members of the public who behave dishonestly and ruin the organization’s reputation would be accorded pity.