A taxi driver has been handed a six-month prison sentence for trying to bribe traffic officers with a R200 note.<\/p>\n
The sentence was welcomed by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), saying that it sends a strong message to motorists that bribery and corruption is not the way to go.<\/p>\n
The taxi driver in question was stopped for driving an un-roadworthy vehicle on a public road. Upon offering the bribe, he was immediately arrested and charged with bribery.<\/p>\n
The Atteridgeville Regional Court subsequently found him guilty and sentenced him to six months imprisonment or a R3,000 fine.<\/p>\n
According to the RTMC, the National Traffic Police have arrested close to 50 motorists for bribery since the start of the year.<\/p>\n
“This conviction will send a message to motorists that they can no longer break traffic laws with impunity in South Africa,” said RTMC CEO, Advocate Makhosini Msibi.<\/p>\n
“Our traffic officers are no longer prepared to have their good name tarnished by motorists who are not prepared to obey the rules of the road.”<\/p>\n
Bribes<\/strong><\/p>\n While news stories about corruption tend to focus on bribery, kickbacks and fraud on a massive scale – such as the State Capture saga, or the looting of VBS bank – academics have warned that small scale corruption like bribing your way out of a traffic fine holds wider-reaching consequences for a country.<\/p>\n Associate professor at Wits University\u2019s School of Governance, William Gumede, previously warned that corruption is becoming so widespread in South Africa that there is a danger of it becoming viewed as normal.<\/p>\n “Once it becomes normalised in society, it will be almost impossible to eradicate it,” he said.<\/p>\n Corruption becomes institutionalised when public officials do not follow the rules set down in a country\u2019s constitution and legislation – and when citizens choose to adopt and exploit it.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa is in a real danger of following the same pattern where corruption becomes institutionalised,\u201d Gumede said.<\/p>\n According to a Corruption Watch report released in April 2018, the five biggest reasons for bribing in South Africa<\/a><\/strong> include:<\/p>\n The report found that the average cost for all bribes in South Africa was R1,550, with the average bribe for a traffic fine hovering around the R205 mark.<\/p>\n By contrast, obtaining tenders was the most costly bribe in South Africa last year, costing an average of R82,282.<\/p>\n\n
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