KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi witnessed first hand the insidious way corruption has infiltrated the SAPS when he was part of a team that caught a police sergeant allegedly soliciting a bribe on Friday.

According to Lt-Col Nqobile Gwala, Mkhwanazi joined police in an operation to stabilise crime in Umbilo, Durban.

The operation netted three men, including the sergeant.

“While the team was busy with their operations ... they noticed something suspicious going on in between occupants of a police vehicle from Durban Central and a civilian male outside a block of flats on Noble Road. An unknown male was seen leaning through the window, into the front passenger seat of the police vehicle, handing something over to the passenger.”

According to Gwala, the team moved towards the police vehicle “but upon seeing the team approaching the member in the passenger seat threw something out the window.”

The 39-year-old sergeant was confronted and arrested for corruption and defeating the ends of justice after a R200 note he is suspected to have thrown from the vehicle was retrieved from a drain, said Gwala.

The suspect who handed the sergeant the R200 was “subsequently caught with drugs”.

“The civilian was ordered to take the operational team to his apartment, where they found a second man. The flat was searched and police found cocaine and R7,000 cash, suspected to be the proceeds of crime.”

Two men, both aged 52, were arrested for possession of drugs. The three suspects are due to appear in the Durban magistrate's court on Monday.

“I accompanied those hard-working members last night as a show of support and to boost the morale of our members throughout the province and the country. The arrests ... especially that of the police officer, are a giant leap for those hard-working police officers trying to rid our ranks of corrupt elements,” said Mkhwanazi.

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