A tavern owner in the Eastern Cape got more than he bargained for after police refused a pile of cash he offered as a bribe.
South African Police Service (SAPS) members from Komani, formerly Queenstown, were conducting routine ‘Safer Festive Season’ operations in the early hours of Wednesday, to curb contact crimes.
At around 00:45 they came across a tavern that was still open after its midnight curfew, and the officers instructed the owner to close shop and send the patrons home.
However, the 45-year-old tavern owner approached them with a stack of money, intended as a bribe to keep the premises open further into the morning.
Even after police refused to take the pile of cash, the man allegedly dropped it inside the police vehicle in a bid to drive his point home.
However, the only drive he received that night was a trip to the police station, where SAPS members opened a case of bribery and arrested him.
The suspect is due to appear before the Komani Magistrates Court on Friday.
Major General Rudolph Adolph, District Commissioner for the area, commended the SAPS team for conducting their duties with integrity, and without fear or favour.
Bribery is rampant in South Africa, and the most recent Citizen’s Bribery Survey, conducted by the Ethics Institute in 2017, found that only 51% of participants believed it was possible to get through life in South Africa without paying a bribe.
The top reasons given for paying bribes were to avoid traffic offences (39%), getting drivers’ licences (18%), getting jobs (14%), public services (8%) and avoiding police and/or criminal charges (7%).
IOL