What You Need to Know:
In a video posted on X, South African Police officers in Lenasia, Johannesburg, allegedly took bribes from what are assumed to be illegal immigrants.
Police allegedly taking bribes from foreigners. This was in Lenasia, JHB.
One man claims he paid R9000.@SAPoliceService #CrimeWatch pic.twitter.com/nAd2i8uPxM
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) February 25, 2024
An unnamed man has claimed he was arrested by police before being asked to pay a R9000 ($465) bribe for his release.
The poster of the video, Yusuf Abramjee, is a prominent South African journalist and anti-crime activist, whose work focuses extensively on government corruption and crime within South Africa’s provinces.
The Details:
Corruption is rife in South Africa, with the taking of bribes, firearms trafficking, the renting of police uniforms to criminals, and police brutality a daily occurrence in the country.
The Country is ranked 41/100 by Transparency.org for corruption, sitting on par with Kosovo, Burkina Faso, and Vietnam.
According to Windell Nortje, A senior law lecturer at the University of the Western Cape:
“Corruption in South Africa affects everyone and intersects at points of
social, political, economic and ethical discourse with no end in sight and thus
remains an elusive malignancy slowly eroding our hard-won democracy.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) is part of the problem. In 2022, a
national investigation was launched to determine whether numerous police
recruits allegedly paid undisclosed amounts of money to SAPS College
as a dubious and unlawful prerequisite for enrolment. In February 2023,
an affidavit deposed to by a senior police official, exposed severe police
corruption, including abuse of power and the disappearance of over 100 state
Vehicles. At the same time, two Limpopo police officers were arraigned for
allegedly accepting a R15 000 bribe to cancel a docket. After receiving an
initial payment of R10 000, the officers insisted on the balance before being
Arrested. On 16 March 2023, it was reported that a crime intelligence head,
Major General Dumisani Khumalo, was allegedly appointed to protect senior
officers within SAPS from criminal investigation, including the incumbent
Police Minister Bheki Cele.”
So, What Now?:
The deterioration of institutional checks and balances has led to the erosion of the South African Judicial system. This is seen particularly through the African National Congress’s policy of Cadre Deployment, or the appointing of party members to traditionally impartial positions, such as Minister of Police, in the case of Bheki Cele, the ANC’s Chief Executive Organ.