Corruption Watch says criminal police officers are guilty of treason
Police Minister Bheki Cele over the weekend condemned ‘acts of criminality by this small percentage of our members’.
Against a background of arrests of some police officers and civil servants on allegations of corruption and contravening the State of Disaster regulations during the COVID-19 lockdown, Corruption Watch director David Lewis yesterday called on the government to declare acts of those found guilty of graft during the crisis “treason”.
Lewis was commenting on growing arrests of police officers found to be in cahoots with underworld liquor traders by selling or distributing alcohol; and civil servants who used emergency procurement to fleece the state of taxpayers’ money, with some said to be diverting food parcels to cronies.
According to national police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo, last week saw the arrest of several cops.
These included:
– Eleven police officers were arrested in connection with alcohol-related crimes in a joint operation between police from Montagu, Bonnievale and Worcester in the Western Cape.
The officers were detained at the Montagu police station and are due to appear in the Swellendam Magistrate’s Court.
– Two traffic officers working for the JB Marks Local Municipality who allegedly received liquor from the owner of a bottle store in Potchefstroom.
“Abuse of power by police and some civil servants during this time should be treated as treason,” Lewis said.
“There may be good reasons for the liquor ban, but from the US experience in the 1920s, once you ban a sought-after commodity, those who want to make a quick buck will take advantage of the situation by finding a way around the prohibition.”
Police Minister Bheki Cele over the weekend condemned “acts of criminality by this small percentage of our members”.
In other news – She is the best lockdown partner – Actress Letoya Makhene enjoying her new lesbian Bae (Pictures)
If ‘no time to waste’ was people, surely it would be these two as they continue to shower each other with praises of love. It is not long since Letoya came out in public about her new lesbian relationship with Lebohang, and already the two are heads over heels in love.
As the nation settles into the extended period of lockdown, actress Letoya Makhene and her bae Lebohang Keswa are making the most of their quality time together. continue reading
Source: The Citizen
