A 48-year-old weighbridge master appeared in the Belfast Magistrate’s Court today after he was arrested for alleged corruption on Saturday at around 07:50 at the Wonderfontein weighbridge.

A truck driver was driving along the N4 between Belfast and the Wonderfontein weighbridge when he was stopped by a traffic officer in full uniform with a marked vehicle.

The traffic officer instructed the truck driver to proceed to the Wonderfontein weighbridge. The traffic official then followed him.
The scale operator weighed the truck and informed the driver that the truck was overloaded by 7 tons. The traffic official, however, drove away.

The operator allegedly told the driver he would be arrested for overloading unless he paid a R6 000 bribe.
The driver phoned the truck owner and explained to him what had happened.

The truck owner asked to talk to the scale master and then allegedly transferred R5 000 into the driver’s FNB account and instructed the driver to show the operator the electronic transfer.

The weighbridge official ordered the driver to withdraw the money at the Puma garage.
The driver could, however, only withdraw R3 000.

He had R1 000 in his possession, and it was also demanded.

The driver took a photograph of the money and handed the total amount of R4 000 to the scale master.
He was allegedly also instructed to transfer an additional R2 500 through EFT.

The truck owner reported the incident to the Road Traffic Management Corporation, who further reported the allegations to the Hawks Middelburg-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit.

The team, comprising Middelburg and Secunda-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation and Road Traffic Management Corporation investigators, drove to the Wonderfontein weighbridge, and upon arrival, the scale master was interviewed and searched.

An amount of R1 500 was found in his possession.

He allegedly then pointed to the rest of the money (R2 500) hidden under some bricks.

The serial numbers were compared to the pictures taken by the truck driver and corresponded.

An amount of R6 490 was recovered.

The suspect was arrested, charged and detained pending his first court appearance.