The newly-elected MMC for Public Safety, Michael Sun, witnessed a Metro police officer taking a bribe in the inner city – and had him prosecuted.
The incident occurred earlier this week, during an inner city inspection which the MMC joined.
Sun said he saw a Metro police official standing with his upper body inside a taxi.
“I watched as they [the driver of the taxi and the officer] kept talking. When the traffic light went green, I turned and I had full view of both the officer and the driver smiling. The driver took off and the officer’s hand went to his pocket,” Sun revealed.
The MMC stopped his vehicle, jumped out and confronted the official.
“He seemed quite shocked and at first he did not know who I was,” he said.
After talking to the officer, two other senior Metro police officials joined the MMC, searched the officer and found three crumbled notes, totaling R50 in his pocket.
The officer of 15 years admitted to taking the bribe but begged not to be prosecuted, the MMC explained.
“What disappointed me most was that he was the team leader of about seven new officers who just graduated from college. It was their first day on the job.
“I told him that R50 was not worth his while and that he embarrassed me, the department and his colleagues,” he said.
The officer will now face corruption charges. An internal investigation will be conducted and if he is found guilty, he will not be welcomed in the department again, Sun said.
“If the taxi driver had not driven off so quickly, he would also have been apprehended,” he said.
Sun has been recently praised for putting 29 fire engines that were in repair for months, back on Johannesburg’s roads within a month.
He said that he would stand behind and in front of Metro Police officers, as long as they are doing the right thing.
“But if you are doing the wrong thing, I will be the first one to bring you down.”
