Five members of the South African Police Service aged between 38 and 50 were arrested in Vereeniging and Welkom on 28 and 29 June 2023. They were arrested by members of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) Serious Corruption Investigation Unit on two separate incidents.
In the first incident, a female Lieutenant Colonel (47) was arrested on 28 June 2023 in Vereeniging for fraud.
The officer was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel post in Kestell in 2012. Upon resuming duties in her new post, she did not reside in Kestell. Instead, she reportedly travelled in an official vehicle to and from work between Bethlehem and Kestell.
Months later, she allegedly submitted a claim for resettlement costs to the amount of over R19 000 without having relocated to Kestell. The resettlement cost is a benefit given to members who have been appointed to a post outside their primary place of residence.
The matter was referred to members of Serious Corruption Investigation Unit based in Bloemfontein who presented a strong case before the court. As a result, a warrant for her arrest was issued.
She will appear before the Kestell Magistrates` Court on 12 July 2023.
In another incident, four members attached to the Kroonstad K9 Unit and Zamdela SAPS were arrested by the Hawks` Welkom Serious Corruption Investigation Unit on Thursday, 29 June 2023.
They are alleged to have taken money to the tune of R1 million which they had recovered from members of the public who had helped themselves to this cash during a cash-in-transit heist in Sasolburg in 2022.
Instead of registering the recovered money into the SAPS store, these police officials pocketed the money.
After a meticulous investigation by the Welkom Serious Corruption team, a warrant for their arrest was issued and executed on 29 June. The four suspects will appear in the Sasolburg Magistrates` Court on 30 June 2023 facing charges of theft, defeating the ends of justice, and money laundering.
The arrest of a fifth suspect, who is also a member of the SAPS, is imminent.
Free State Head of the Hawks, Major General Mokgadi Bokaba is dismayed by the behaviour of members who did not think twice about betraying their oath. “We are relentless in our efforts to root-out corruption, including within our ranks. It is our constitutional duty to rid the system of rotten elements and restore the confidence of South Africans in the police. Rest assured, there will be more arrests to follow as we stamp our independence and that of the state,” she undertakes.
