Six people, including driving licence officers, were arrested in a joint operation by the Road Traffic Management’s National Traffic Anti-corruption unit and the Hawks in Nkowankowa, Limpopo.
The arrests followed 18 months of investigation in which undercover operatives, working under Operation Code 14, identified officers involved in corruption at driving licence centre.
The investigation led to the arrest of three driving licence examiners and three civilian facilitators who allegedly touted on their behalf.
The officers aged 55, 49 and 46 are to appear at the Ritavi Magistrate court this week and they will be joined in the dock by the civilians who are aged between 37 and 57.
It is alleged that the civilians acted as middlemen who facilitated the payment of bribes between licence applicants and examiners.
The arrests marked the culmination of Operation Code 14 and the testing centre was closed as all examiners were arrested while the other two were being sought.
Anti-corruption officers have identified corruption and bribery in the issuing of driving documents as contributing factors behind the country’s high accident rate.
Untrained and unfit drivers commit avoidable mistakes and cause unnecessary crashes that lead to injuries and fatalities.
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