Metro sacks three for ‘corruption and extortion’

Tshwane metro police have dismissed three officers ahead of their second court appearance on corruption and extortion charges.

Emmanuel Thovhakale, Michael Soomo and Lerato Molope appeared in the Pretoria regional court on April 23 and their case was postponed to July 10.

According to AfriForum, the accused pulled over complainant Uvaldi Theologo on July 10, 2022, on Solomon Mahlangu Drive.

While the officers attended to Theologo, community safety MMC Grandi Theunissen travelling on the road, stopped to enquire if everything was in order.

The alleged extortion had not yet taken place and he was reassured that the officials were performing their duties as expected.

Theologo alleged that the officers accused her of driving without a valid permit, and demanded she pay them R3 000 cash to avoid her car being impounded.

According to the prosecutor, the officers then followed Theologo to an ATM and when she was unable to make the withdrawal further followed her home.

Theologo alleged that the accused gave her a cellphone number to pay the funds to via the eWallet facility.

Thereafter she contacted the MMC to report to him what had happened.

Theunissen encouraged and supported Theologo when she opened a criminal case against the trio.

“These guys were caught for extortion, and it was now concluded in March that they were found guilty for dishonesty and bringing the city into disrepute,” Theunissen said.

“This was the first case since 2018 of dismissals of this nature that took place.”

The MMC said that it was important to make sure that people were kept accountable, especially when terrorising a resident of the city.

“They will also be deregistered as traffic officers, they will not be able to find another job elsewhere.”

Metro police spokesperson Isaac Mahamba told Rekord that he would issue a statement soon.

Advocate Gerrie Nel of AfriForum private prosecution unit said: “We have a complainant in the matter that said enough is enough. She wants to testify, and she will testify about the absolute ordeal she went through.

We have built up a very good relationship with the head of the metro police and she is vociferous in her attempts to ensure that we rid this city of hooligans with badges,” Nel said.

“We certainly are committed to ensuring that we rid the town of hooligans with badges so that it becomes safe again for people to drive in the streets, for mothers, daughters and wives because these cowards focus on soft targets.”

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