Johannesburg - Twelve police officers, among them a high-ranking officer, have been arrested for selling jobs in the police force.
The jobs-for-bribes ring was bust by a crack team of detectives set up by national police commissioner Riah Phiyega to investigate corruption in the SAPS recruitment processes.
The team was set up after recruits complained that they had been asked to pay bribes before being enrolled into the police force.
National police spokesperson Solomon Makgale confirmed the bust and said the suspects formed part of a syndicate. Makgale said the officers allegedly abused their positions of authority to enrich themselves by accepting money and other valuables from members of the public who wanted to join the SAPS.
He said the members of the syndicate would personally accept money or use agents to accept money from the victims. The police recruits would either pay personally or use facilities at supermarket chains to send the bribe money. Makgale added that other valuables used as payment included livestock.
This week police arrested Benoni cluster commander Brigadier Vuyokazi Ndebele, 49, in connection with the job recruitment scam.
Makgale said Ndebele allegedly changed the Moroka police cluster recruitment list and added names of three candidates that had not met the SAPS criteria.
“It seems like the people were known to her,” Makgale said.
Makgale said Ndebele has been charged with fraud.
He said Ndebele has been served with a notice of intention to suspend her. Ndebele has until Monday to give reasons why she should not be suspended.
Ndebele is not new to controversy. She was implicated in a report issued by a task team in March 2012 after its investigation into the Midrand 10111 call centre and its related units in Gauteng.
Ndebele, who was the emergency centre commander, was accused of picking on several officers at the centre, swearing at them publicly and unilaterally transferring them without following procedure.
She was also accused of leaving a female officer alone on the road with prostitutes and drunk men when the blue lights on the vehicle she was travelling in did not work. She was removed from the centre following this incident.
The Sunday Independent has also learnt that Ndebele was a station commander at Lyttelton police station when she was charged with misconduct relating to the hiring of a private investigator.
She was found guilty and sentenced to a suspended dismissal for six months.
It was not clear whether she was part of the syndicate operating in Gauteng.
Sunday Independent