Accepting a R100 bribe on the N4 near Wonderfontein in 2019 has cost a police officer his career.

Reminiscent of how Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob for a pot of lentil stew, Eric Ellias Sibanyoni, a 47-year-old former police constable attached to the Middelburg Flying Squad, not only sacrificed his job when he accepted this bribe for looking the other way, but also set himself up for receiving a criminal record.

On February 17, following meticulous work by the Nelspruit Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation Unit, Crime Intelligence and the Road Traffic Management Corporation, the Belfast Magistrate’s Court sentenced Sibanyoni to two years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition that he is not found guilty of fraud, corruption or theft for the duration of the suspension.

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Although the Mpumalanga Hawks’ head, Major General Nico Gerber, is disappointed that the convict did not receive a direct custodial sentence – a measure he believes would have sent a clear message to potential perpetrators of corruption – he respects the discretion of the court.
Gerber was candid in expressing his disdain for corrupt police officers.

“We will not allow criminal elements to infiltrate and shame hard-working honest members. Such individuals do not qualify to remain as members and tarnish the reputation of the South African Police Service.”

The officer’s corrupt dealings first came to light when a tourist who had been victimised turned whistle blower. While the police could not successfully link the tourist to the police officer, the information led to the formation of the team that would eventually seal the crafty cop’s fate. The strategy was simple. First the team would conduct observations. Once enough information had been gathered, an operation followed, which led to Sibanyoni’s arrest four months after the complaint had been registered, when he accepted a bribe freely offered by a motorist who had committed an offence.

The investigation proved that Sibanyoni had intentionally benefitted from unethical behaviour that is contradictory to the SAPS’s Code of Conduct when he received the R100 gratification for looking the other way when the motorist committed an offence, thereby not fulfilling his duty.
The disgraced police officer faced two axes over his head. The one: an internal departmental procedure that due to the balance of probabilities resulted in him being dismissed from the SAPS. The other: a criminal case, finalised this week when he was handed down a two-year prison sentence, suspended for five years.

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