traffic officers police

Image: Adobe Stock

NPA welcomes sentencing of five corrupt traffic officers

Video footage of the traffic officers pointing to the correct answers to help people past their learner driver’s tests emerged in court.

traffic officers police

Image: Adobe Stock

Five Traffic Inspectorate officers have been jailed for 503 counts of fraud following an investigation into their activities at the uMngeni licensing office in Howick, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Friday.

Video footage of the officers helping people to pass their learner driver’s licence tests was shared in court during their trial. The traffic officers had all pleaded guilty to the raft of fraud charges against them. 

NPA spokesperson, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, said that the traffic officers had been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment after they appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court this week.

“They were convicted for their role in the commission of 503 counts of fraud,” Ramkisson-Kara said.

“Dumisani Nkala, Lindiwe Xulu, Meshack Ndlovu, Nkosinathi Zondi and Dumisani Phungula helped numerous motor vehicle learner’s license applicants pass their tests. While the officers invigilated the learner’s license tests, they would use a hidden light-emitting device to discretely point out the correct answers to the applicants, thereby helping them to pass,” she said.

Swift sentences for traffic officers

Nkala, was convicted of 49 counts of fraud while Xulu was convicted of 158 counts of fraud. Ndlovu was convicted of seven counts of fraud while Zondi and Phungula were convicted of 274 and 15 counts of fraud respectively. Nearly all of these incidents took place in March 2017 with one taking place in January 2018 and two being committed in July 2018.

The state, represented by Senior State Advocate Mlungisi Magwanyana led the evidence of applicants who had already pleaded guilty, as well as video footage showing the accused committing the offences.   

“Nkala was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, wholly suspended for a period of five years on condition that he is not convicted of fraud or theft during the period of suspension. He was sentenced to an additional three years of correctional supervision. Xulu and Zondi were each sentenced to seven years imprisonment, while and Ndlovu and Phungula were sentenced to four years imprisonment each,” Ramkisson-Kara said.

NPA applauds sentences

Ramkisson-Kara said that the National Prosecuting Authority welcomed the successful prosecution.