By Staff Reporter
EMERLO – A 48-year-old traffic officer has been handed a five-year prison sentence, wholly suspended for five years, after she was found guilty of corruption involving a R50 bribe.
Thembisile Yende was arrested in 2022 following complaints from motorists in Ermelo about traffic officials allegedly demanding money in exchange for ignoring traffic violations. The Hawks’ Middelburg-based Serious Corruption Investigation team launched an undercover operation on 30 March 2022 after the public outcry.
During the operation, a police agent was reportedly asked to pay R50 for failing to display the vehicle’s registration plates. Yende accepted the money and was immediately arrested.
She appeared in court several times before the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court sentenced her on Tuesday, 09 December 2025. Her five-year imprisonment term was wholly suspended for five years, on condition that she does not commit a similar offence during that period.
The Mpumalanga Provincial Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), Major General Nico Gerber, welcomed the conviction, noting that the investigation was conducted professionally. He added that the verdict should act as a warning to law enforcement officials who put their careers at risk by engaging in corrupt activities.
He further stated that while suspended sentences are not the ideal outcome in corruption cases, the DPCI respects the decisions of the courts.
