The police’s special investigation unit, the Hawks, arrested Portia Motsatsi Ramphelo (37) in 2017 after they received numerous complaints about traffic police officials who were demanding bribes from the motorists who were found to have contravened the Road Traffic Act.
It was reported that the accused would demand between R150 and R2000 from the motorists.

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The Hawks, in collaboration with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and Road Traffic Management (RTM) instituted an investigation dubbed “Siyabangena”. After conducting a thorough investigation, the team arrested Ramphelo together with other 12 traffic police officers in Tzaneen in December 2017.

Ramphelo was convicted and sentenced to two years of direct imprisonment by the Tzaneen Magistrate Court on August 15, 2019, which she appealed. On September 1, 2022, the court ordered that Ramphelo start serving her two years jail term.
She was given three days to prepare herself.