Fatima Hassan is a human rights lawyer whose work it is to often fight the injustices caused by corrupt police officials.
At the weekend, she became a victim. But she decided to fight back – with her cellphone camera.
On Friday evening, Hassan had flown into Joburg from Cape Town. She was travelling alone and had hired a tour company shuttle bus to transport her to the city.
“I was sitting in the back when were were flagged down just after we had left OR Tambo (airport),” she explained.
Hassan said a police officer stopped them and began talking to the driver. The officer pointed to the vehicle’s licence disc and told the driver it had expired, and that the windscreen was cracked.
“He then tells him to get out the car and walks behind the vehicle, and tells him to ‘come here’,” Hassan said.
The policeman told the driver he had to pay R200 or he would call a tow truck company to tow away the vehicle. This would have left her and the driver stranded.
Hassan said the officer didn’t have his name tag on.
“I told him he must issue a ticket, but he continued saying he would call a tow truck company,” she said.
He threatened them with jail. Eventually, Hassan’s driver paid the policeman R40.
“I thought to myself ‘am I being a coward?’. I am a woman alone in the back of the car. I didn’t know what was going to happen. But it was then that I decided that I would take photographs,” she said.
Hassan took photographs of the policeman as he allegedly solicited a bribe from another motorist. After tracing the driver’s particulars, she found that he worked for a company owned by a police reservist. The driver paid a bribe.
“What they need is a commission of inquiry into corruption. Ideally, someone like this should lose his job, Hassan,” said.
She said the constitution provided for a complaint to be lodged with a premier if relations between the community and the police had broken down, such as in the case of corruption.
The premier then has to appoint a commission of inquiry.
Hassan said she had found that police corruption had become a big problem in Joburg.
“In Cape Town, I have never experienced it, although people say they have. But in Joburg I have.”
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said if a police officer attempted to solicit a bribe, a member of the public should obtain all their details, including the registration of their vehicle, and open a case.
But Hassan said she was reluctant to open a case because she feared she would be victimised.
A LeadSA poll indicates that Joburgers come out on top when it comes to admitting to bribing metro police officers. Last year, a similar poll also revealed that Joburg residents were more likely to admit to bribery.
This year’s poll revealed that those targeted by metro police were mostly drunk motorists and drivers of flashy cars.
Metro officers, according to the poll, would often solicit bribes by asking for lunch money.
But metro police are not the only culprits. The second survey said that an increasing number of motorists had reported that members of the SAPS were looking for handouts, usually at roadblocks, especially in the Sandton area.
Transport Minister S’bu Ndebele said his department was fighting corruption and that more arrests across the country were imminent.
“As the Department of Transport, we have adopted a zero-tolerance stance towards any form of fraud and corruption. Corruption thrives when there is inefficiency…
“We are particularly concerned about bribery relating to traffic officers, as this corrupt practice compromises the good work being done to improve road safety and deal with lawlessness on our roads,” he said. - The Star