Durban - A Mpumalanga traffic officer, who accepted a bribe and was subsequently fired, unsuccessfully challenged his dismissal at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
IOL reported that senior traffic officer, Mfanafuthi Gift Hleza, 33, was arrested by the Hawks in 2021, following a sting operation.
Hleza was based at the Msukaligwa Local Municipality and was charged for corruption and released on R1 500 bail.
The CCMA found that Hleza’s version – that he took the R200 because he needed to buy a cooldrink because it had been a hot day – was dubious, the Sunday Times reported.
The commissioner ruled that his dismissal was fair.
Last month, an Eastern Cape chief traffic officer, from the Sakhisizwe Local Municipality, was sentenced to eight years for issuing driving licences to “undeserving people” in exchange for money.
Kholekile Melford Mbambo, 56, was sentenced in the Elliot Regional Court.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said a sting operation between East London Serious Corruption Investigation and Eastern Cape Crime Intelligence was conducted in 2010, and the corrupt conduct was witnessed in action.
And in KZN, a traffic officer is serving a three-year jail sentence for soliciting a R800 bribe.
Sandile Lloyd Nene, 43, told a woman that her car lights were too close to the tyres and that she could be liable for an R800 fine.
He then removed her car licence disc and withheld her driving licence. Nene told her that if she paid him the R800, he would not issue a fine and would return her licence disc and driving licence.
The woman had only R200 on her. Nene was arrested while accepting the balance on another occasion.
IOL