The Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), councillor Herman Mashaba, recently confirmed that the Hawks, in conjunction with the anti-corruption unit, have arrested a number of corrupt officials from various licensing departments.
Since the launch of the city’s new anti-corruption unit, headed by Major-General Shadrack Sibiya, investigations have been launched into allegations of fraudulent licensing officials. A total of 106 corrupt licensing centre officials across the city were identified, and further arrests are imminent. Each of the suspects will be suspended immediately, pending swift disciplinary processes by the city.
Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnarr, spokesperson for the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) confirmed that arrests were made.
“I can confirm that three officials were arrested on 10 January – one cashier from Sandton, and two from Martindale,” he said.
Nine hundred and seventy-two allegedly fraudulent transactions that took place between January 2008 and February 2016 within the CoJ have been identified. The total value of these transactions amounts to R14 717 444,00. During the investigations, Sibiya noted that the problem was not limited to the CoJ, as fraudulent transactions involving an amount of R155 074 672,08 were identified nationally.
Some of the CoJ licensing offices involved in these transaction are:
– Martindale (Johannesburg), with 102 incidents amounting to R2 101 586
– Johannesburg (Wemmer), with 25 incidents amounting to R571 861
– Kliptown, with 7 incidents amounting to R44 528
– Langlaagte, with 426 incidents amounting to R5 114 020
– Midrand, with 89 incidents amounting to R1 332 619
– Randburg, with 37 incidents amounting to R387 604
– Roodepoort, with 84 incidents amounting to R1 333 983
– Sandton, with 202 incidents amounting to R3 831 244
These fraudulent transactions include assisting motorists to illegally obtain driver’s licenses and licence discs, and register their vehicles. The officials allegedly took the cash – that ordinarily would have been used for much-needed service delivery – for themselves.
Mashaba concluded by saying, “Corruption is deplorable and steals from the poor. When I took office, I declared corruption [to be] public enemy number one. I promised to root out corruption in the City of Johannesburg and to bring those responsible for its existence to book. I am proud to say this administration is living up to that promise.”
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