THE Ehlanzeni special traffic patrol unit arrested a motorist who offered traffic cops a R50 bribe to avoid a traffic fine for driving an overloaded bakkie.

The suspect, in his late 30s, was transporting workers, most of whom were Mozambican nationals, to work on the sugar cane farms in the Nkomatipoort area in Nkomazi yesterday at about 4am.

The driver suddenly saw traffic officials parked ahead and did a U-turn on the R571.

Traffic cops gave chase and stopped him about three kilometres further on.

A traffic cop asked the driver to produce a driver's licence but he instead produced a R50 note and got himself immediately arrested for bribery and driving without a valid driver's licence.

The patrol unit that arrested the driver was the same that arrested a policeman late last week after he was found driving under the influence of liquor in KaNyamazane.

Captain Leonard Hlathi of the Mpumalanga police organised crime unit confirmed the arrest and said investigations were continuing.

The road on which the driver was arrested is the same as the one on which national police commissioner Bheki Cele caught a driver with an overloaded truck during one of his recent visit to the province.