A blue Monday unfolded for eight traffic officials and the owner of a driving school in the Lowveld this morning, September 16, as the police arrested them for fraud in an undercover operation.
These arrests were the outcome of a two-year prosecution-led operation involving the Directorate for Priority Crime Intervention (DPCI) Mpumalanga, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and Crime Intelligence.
ALSO READ: Mpumalanga Hawks hunt suspects following Mhala cash-in-transit heist
The DPCI Mpumalanga’s spokesperson, Captain Dineo Sekgotodi, said the police had received information that driver’s and learner’s licences were being issued fraudulently across the region.
She said in some cases, driver’s licences were being issued without the applicants having been tested. In other cases, learner’s licence tests were written and the licences issued without the written tests being submitted to the licensing department.
Sekgotodi said several motor vehicles were also being licensed without being put through the road worthiness test.
ALSO READ: Hawks nab 8 education employees for fraud, theft, corruption and money laundering
She said the perpetrators of these crimes had also failed to pay licensing fees over to the relevant municipalities, thereby defrauding them by an undisclosed amount of money.
She said their actions also contributed to the high number of accidents and deaths on our roads. All suspects were charged with fraud and corruption and are expected to make their first court appearances today.
The RTMC’s spokesperson, Simon Zwane, said the operation specifically targeted not only corrupt licence examiners who fraudulently issued drivers and vehicle licences, but also driving school operators suspected of facilitating interactions between the applicants and the examiners.
“Nine suspects were identified and warrants of arrest were issued. Eight of these are examiners in Sabie, Graskop and Lydenburg, and one owns a driving school in Sabie. This morning, we arrested four examiners, two in Sabie and two in Graskop, as well as the driving school owner. In addition, we also arrested four traffic officers who had accepted bribes from motorists in the Verena area,” said Zwane.
It is understood more driving school owners and other officials might be involved, and Zwane said he expected more suspects to be identified and arrested soon.
