R50 bribe: Traffic cop gets five-year sentence after demanding 'cold drink' from undercover agent
A Mpumalanga traffic officer, Thembisile Yende, has received a wholly suspended five-year sentence after soliciting a R50 bribe from an undercover police agent.
Image: Hawks
A Mpumalanga traffic officer who demanded a R50 bribe from a motorist has been handed a five-year prison sentence, wholly suspended, by the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court.
Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi said Thembisile Yende's arrest followed growing concern from Ermelo motorists who complained about officials allegedly soliciting bribes.
“Yende was arrested in 2022 in Ermelo after the Hawks Middelburg-based serious corruption investigation team reacted to the outcry after motorists in Ermelo raised concern about traffic officials who unduly sought gratification in exchange for traffic law violations,” said Nkosi.
Yende, 48, was sentenced on Tuesday after being arrested during an undercover operation carried out by the Middelburg-based Serious Corruption Investigation team in 2022.
According to the Hawks, officers conducted the sting on 30 March 2022 after weeks of monitoring suspected officials.
During the operation, a police agent posing as a motorist was compelled to pay R50 for failing to display vehicle registration plates. Yende was arrested shortly afterwards.
She appeared in court several times before being convicted and sentenced. Her five-year jail term was wholly suspended for five years on condition she is not convicted of a similar offence during that period.
Mpumalanga Hawks head, Major General Nico Gerber, said the outcome should serve as a warning to law-enforcement officers involved in corrupt acts.
He added that while suspended sentences for corruption “are not the desired outcome”, the Directorate respected the court’s decision.
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