Two workers in court over selling council property
Two Tshwane Metro Waste department workers have been arrested for corruption. Metro police caught a worker red-handed as he was selling the refuse bags on Wednesday.
Two employees from the Tshwane Waste department were expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after they were arrested for selling Tshwane metro refuse bags.
The two men were caught selling the refuse bags on Wednesday, they were arrested on the scene.
A man, who had previously bought the refuse bags from the two men, alerted the Tshwane metro police.
“The complainant called us and told us that he is going to meet up with the worker to buy the refuse bags. When we arrived at the meeting place we caught the worker red-handed,” Metro Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said.
According to Mahamba, the worker who was caught, revealed that his supervisor was the brains behind the dealing. The worker was allegedly on study leave.
“According to the worker, his supervisor called him and told him that he should fetch the refuse bags in an exchange container and go sell them. The supervisor allegedly needed the money for transport, so the two were going to meet up later to share the money.”
Both the worker and the supervisor’s calls corresponded to show that they had been communicating before the dealing took place. The worker took the officers through everything and explained to them how the transactions took place.
The police found 20 packets of 50 refuse bags each. The worker sold each packet for R40 each. The officers seized money, refuse bags and cell phones from the workers.
“Both the workers have been arrested on charges of corruption and will appear in court on Thursday,” Mahamba indicated.
He further pointed out that the selling of the refuse bags could have been going on for long and people do not realise that this is a loss to the Tshwane Metro no matter how small the crime.
The selling of council property has become a problem where in the past few months, several workers were dismissed from work for stealing fuel. The fight against corruption in the Tshwane Metro will intensify to warn other workers not to fall into doing corruption.
“Disciplinary steps will be taken against the two workers where their fate will be determined,” Mahamba concluded.
