Cape Town - A senior traffic official with the Maquassi Hills municipality in the North West Province has appeared in the Wolmaransstad Magistrate’s Court on charges of fraud, impersonating an officer and defeating the ends of justice, the Road Traffic Management Corporation said.
The National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit (NTACU) arrested the Maquaasi Hills municipality’s traffic chief Judas Mahlangu on Tuesday at the Wolmanransstad Testing Centre, where he was based. Mahlangu appeared in court on Wednesday.
Simon Zwane, spokesperson for the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) told the African News Agency (ANA) that Mahlangu “was arrested for fraud, impersonating a traffic officer and defeating the ends of justice”.
Zwane said the charges Mahlangu has been charged with related to vehicle licence fraud. “It’s too early to go into detail because he still has to apply for bail,” Zwane said.
Zwane said Mahlangu had been employed in February as Chief of Traffic for the municipality. For six months, Mahlangu continued to work in the traffic department despite being aware that his registration as a traffic officer had been suspended and that his registration as a motor vehicle examiner had been cancelled.
He said that the charges which related to Mahlangu impersonating an officer came about “because investigations revealed that he was previously deregistered as an examiner of vehicles, and his right to practice as a traffic officer had also been withdrawn”.
“When that happens, you are not supposed to wear a traffic police uniform and practice as such, but he [Mahlangu] continued and was employed as chief traffic officer without disclosing those facts,” Zwane said.
Other allegations levelled against Mahlangu included ones that he attempted to destroy evidence that implicated him in fraudulent activities.
During investigations into the matter, the NTACU also found that Mahlangu already had pending cases of fraud, drunken driving and a conviction for stock theft charges on his record.
Zwane said: “We have an anti-corruption unit that investigates, so they had a way of investigating and pulling up information they obtained and that’s how he was arrested.”
The case against Mahlangu has been postponed to August 17.
Mahlangu’s arrest followed that of traffic officer Dirkie Mothibe who is from the same traffic department. Mothibe was arrested on July 5 for fraud, and he appeared in court on July 6. Mothibe’s case was postponed to Friday, July 17.
“Mothibe was also charged with fraud and it also relates to the examination of vehicles,” Zwane said. He said the two cases were not linked, but pointed out that they seemed to have a similar modus operandi.
Advocate Makhosini Msibi, chief executive officer for the RTMC, issued a strong warning to law enforcement officers and said corruption would not be tolerated within the traffic law fraternity.
“Corruption and unethical conduct from traffic law enforcement is one of the contributory factors to the erosion of the moral fibre of our society. The RTMC has identified this as a key area that requires concerted attention if the country is to succeed in reducing road crashes and improve respect for the rules of the road,” Msibi said.
ANA