Cape Town - Two former police officers and a clerk have been sentenced to five years direct imprisonment after accepting a R700 bribe from a couple arrested for theft.
Siyabulela Klaas and Mzimasi Soji were stationed at Khayelitsha police station, while Phumelele Solani was an administrative clerk at Harare police station when they accepted the bribe in 2016.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced the trio to eight years direct imprisonment for corruption, with three years suspended for five years.
They were also sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for attempting to obstruct the administration of justice, and Soji was sentenced to 12 months for obstructing the administration of justice.
The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently, effectively sentencing each accused to five years direct imprisonment.
State prosecutor advocate Ezmeralda Johnson argued that police received information about a stolen generator at a shop in Site C, Khayelitsha, in October 2016.
“Police found the generator at the mentioned address on October 26, 2016, and arrested Mzoxolo Sigwela and Siyabonga Thabatha.
Hlombekazi Fani was later arrested when she arrived at the Khayelitsha police station. Sigwela and Fani are husband and wife and live at the address where police found the generator.”
The NPA noted that Klaas said they could make a plan to release the three if they paid R600, R200 for each officer.
Fani was released that evening after signing a statement drafted by Soji, which stated that on the day they were arrested, she was in Butterworth in the Eastern Cape.
An investigation also showed that Klaas never filed Fani’s statement in a docket and a statement commissioned by Soji was found in Soji’s locker.
Western Cape director of public prosecutions Nicolette Bell welcomed the sentence, saying there was no place for corrupt government officials.