Transport minister Dipuo Peters has called on the management of the Road Traffic Management Corporation to rid the entity of “rotten apples”.
This followed the arrest of four traffic officials for truck hijacking.
Provincial police spokesman Brigadier Neville Malila said members of the National Traffic Police were arrested on Wednesday on the Golden Highway for their alleged involvement in the hijacking of a bread truck in De Deur, south-east of Johannesburg.
The three men and a woman were arrested after a high-speed chase with the police.
Law enforcement agents had received information about the truck hijacking.
Malila said the chase ended in De Deur, where the traffic cops were nabbed.
“The officers were also found in the possession of suspected stolen goods and money”
Preliminary reports show that the four were arrested by police on Wednesday for crimes committed while on duty.
Reacting to the arrest of the traffic officials from the elite unit, Peters said the “law must be allowed to take its course”.
“We need men and women of integrity to carry out the task of saving people’s lives on our roads. There’s no room for criminal elements in the service. Criminals should not be allowed to masquerade as servants of the people,” she said.
Peters also urged the board to conduct a thorough audit of the “calibre of officers attached to the National Traffic Police”.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, police arrested two suspects in Diepkloof after they were found in possession of stolen medicine worth more than R500 000.
Malila said the medication was stolen from a truck hijacked on its way to deliver the medicine in Meyerton.
In a third incident, Jemal Mohammed was arrested in Braamfontein on Tuesday, after police seized stolen groceries and electrical appliances in his two warehouses in Mayfair and Bramley this week.
He was charged with possession of suspected stolen goods and has appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.
The case was postponed to Tuesday.
Gauteng Police provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba said truck hijackings had been identified as a key crime area that needed targeting.
He said so far seven suspects had been arrested in Gauteng.
The Star