Former Provincial Traffic Police officer, Kgapane Stanley Makhurupetji has started serving a four year sentence.
The former Provincial Traffic Police officer has started serving a four year sentence, after he lost his bid for appeal at Tzaneen Magistrate’s Court on 7 August 2023.
Kgapane Stanley Makhurupetji was found guilty for corruption and sentenced on 15 August 2019, but he decided to appeal the court’s decision.
The court heard that during 2017, there was a public outcry about the traffic police who were demanding gratifications from the motorists who were caught on the wrong side of the law. As the complaints were received from most parts of the province, the Hawks decided to decisively deal with the corrupt traffic police by registering a major investigation project dubbed “Siyabangena”.
In December 2017, the Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation members in collaboration with the Road Traffic Management Corporation conducted a takedown operation in Tzaneen area that resulted in the arrest of over 15 traffic police and Makhurupetji was amongst them.
On 15 August 2019, Makhurupetji was found guilty for corruption and sentenced to four years imprisonment, but he decided to appeal the court’s decision and his bail was extended pending the outcome of the appeal.
One of the conditions attached to his bail was that he must report at the Clerk of the Court on the prescribed dates until the matter was finalised.
Although Makhurupetji was convicted, but he was still performing his duties as a traffic police as if nothing was happening. In June this year, Makhurupetji’s appeal was withdrawn by the court but he failed to report to the Clerk of the Court as one of his bail conditions.
The warrant of arrest was authorised against him and he was successfully traced and arrested so that he can start serving his four years jail term.