Cop gets fine of her own: 6 years in jail

Traffic officers are supposed to serve the public and not terrorise them by soliciting bribes.

This was Pretoria Regional Court magistrate Peet Johnson’s opinion when he sentenced a Bronkhorstspruit traffic officer to an effective six years in jail on Friday.

He earlier convicted Unity Lovely Mahlangu, 46, of trying to solicit a bribe from Johannesburg High Court Judge Geraldine Anne Borchers, saying behaviour like Mahlangu’s was causing the public to lose trust in officials.

Mahlangu, from Ekangala, pleaded not guilty to a charge of accepting a bribe.

The petite but feisty judge earlier testified that she was travelling on the N4 highway to the Kruger National Park on June 26, 2008 when a traffic officer pulled her over.

Borchers admitted that she might have been speeding.

She said that when she greeted Mahlangu, the officer replied with: “Hello sweetie. Are you having a nice day?”

The officer told her she had exceeded the speed limit, adding: “Are you happy to pay (a fine of) R800?”

When she asked the question a second time, Borchers responded: “Please don’t tell me you are asking me to bribe you.”

According to her, Mahlangu replied: “No, but you can pay a spot fine of R200.”

The judge told the officer she was choosing the wrong person to try this on.

Mahlangu then told Borchers to go.

However, the judge demanded the officer’s name, which Mahlangu refused to give her.

After a shouting match, Borchers got out of her car, and tried to get the officer’s name from other officers who ignored her.

She only got Mahlangu’s name after she threatened to smash their speed measuring device.

Eventually the judge got her written notice of a R600 fine, which she later paid.

The court also heard that “spot fines” were only handed out to foreigners, and should only be paid at police stations.

Upon conviction yesterday, Johnson said the judge was a credible witness who did not contradict herself, while Mahlangu’s evidence was inconsistent and could not be reasonably perceived as true.

“There was no intention from the accused to issue a ticket.

“Why would the complainant take down the registration numbers of all the traffic officers (there), if nothing was wrong?” Johnson said.

He added that every citizen in this country had the right to have an official’s name.

During arguments before sentencing, State advocate Petra van Basten quoted Judge Hilary Squires’s remarks in Schabir Shaik trial who linked corruption to cancer – saying if it was not checked, it became systemic.

She also quoted the Young Communist League’s reaction to former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi’s 15-year jail sentence for corruption.

The league said that it celebrated institutions who fought corruption whenever it reared “its ugly head”.

Johnson said officers are soliciting more and more bribes from the public, and that it was not the amount asked for on which punishment hinged, but the act.

“The community must be safeguarded against corrupt officials,” he said.

Johnson took into account that this conviction could cost Mahlangu, a first-time offender, her job.

He sentenced her to eight years’ imprisonment, of which two were suspended for five years.

The court also refused Mahlangu leave to appeal.

When the accused, who appeared very confident during previous court appearances and even posed for photos, was led to the holding cells, her family members left the courtroom.

Some of her relatives could be seen weeping outside. - Pretoria News