Nelspruit - Four Mpumalanga police officers arrested for alleged corruption and defeating the ends of justice were granted bail by the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
Bongani Clement Nene, 25, Sthembiso Mayisela, 34, Zakhele Wiseman Nyundu, 31, and Promise Manzini, 27, allegedly accepted a R4000 bribe to let a taxi from Mozambique carrying 1800 contraband pairs of All Star sneakers pass, a Sapa correspondent reported.
They were not asked to plead. The four appeared alongside their co-accused, Safina Matsha, 56, who was not asked to plead to charges of possession of, and dealing in, illicit goods.
Prosecutor Isabet Erwee asked the court to grant the officers, attached to the White River Flying Squad, R25 000 bail each considering the seriousness of the case.
“The charge faced by the accused is a schedule five offence and the accused acquired an amount of R4 000 during the commission of the crime.
“The State is asking this court to postpone the case to February 6 for further police investigations,” she said.
Their lawyer asked the court to be lenient as the officers did not earn much.
Magistrate Willie Wilkins granted the accused R5 000 bail each and agreed to the postponement request.
The five were arrested on Wednesday after a minibus taxi from Mozambique to Pretoria was allowed passage on N4 while transporting contraband goods in exchange for a bribe.
Sapa