It has just been a week after the Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma warned members and employees of the SAPS to refrain from illicit activities, after six police constables were nabbed for allegedly robbing a supermarket in Standerton.
Another member, 32-year-old Police Constable, Cloud Qolani Lubisi stationed at Skukuza has found himself on the wrong side of the law and as a result is facing the full wrath of it. The member was arrested on Sunday, 22 April 2018, after it was allegedly discovered that he went to the Kruger National Park with two men and after a few hours, returned back alone. That rose suspicion to the authorities who had seen him with his accomplices earlier on. Lubisi was then taken in for questioning where he confessed that the duo were poachers and he had left them at the park, hence the arrest. Police and Rangers searched for the two men where he had allegedly left them but with no success.
Lubisi appeared at the Bushbuckridge Magistrates’ Court today, facing a charge of conspiracy to commit a crime. The court remanded him in custody until tomorrow, 25 April 2018, at the Skukuza Periodical Court for a formal bail application.
The investigation (both departmental and criminal proceedings) in the case of the six arrested cops, Constables Fika Thabo Makhubu aged 33, Thabiso Phillemon Lepoto aged 35, Jabu George Sekhoto aged 37, and Siphiwe Esssau Ntshangase aged 45, Richard Solomon Seboko aged 36 and Hlalanathi Solomuzi Ngcemo aged 37, arrested for business robbery committed on 15 January 2018, is still underway.
Their arrest came after they allegedly went into the supermarket and purported to be inspectors from the South African Revenue Services having come for an inspection. In the process, they allegedly robbed the owner of an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the scene. They were since granted a R1 000 bail each and are scheduled to appear again at the Standerton Magistrates’ Court on 12 June 2018.
The Provincial Commissioner has vowed that all corrupt elements will be taken out of the system and on the same breath he commends the members for not being afraid to act on their suspicions, without fear, favour or prejudice.