The South African Policing Union (SAPU) says it will wait for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s (IPID) full investigation into the matter of the six Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officers accused of corruption.
The officers from the Drug Unit, arrested on charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances and defeating the ends of justice, have been granted bail of R3 000 each by the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court.
It is alleged that the officers stopped a Congolese national for a supposed traffic violation a year ago. It is believed that they later searched the victim’s home and allegedly took R120 000 in cash before taking him to the Boksburg EMPD precinct, where they returned his car and released him without laying charges.
SAPU spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale says the officers’ arrest was unfortunate.
“We clearly condemn any form of criminality, being it of corruption. Anyone before the law is not guilty up until the time that they are proven guilty. We have seen a modus operandi when it comes to drug cases, where you find that some of the drug lords have learned to use this strategy to say when the police come to arrest them, they know the better way to really scare the police is to make allegations that the police have taken money from them. Because in this case, they were not arrested on the scene where money was found on them.”
