‘Cops asked for bribes at roadblock’

VICTIMS have warned motorists to beware of police officers allegedly soliciting bribes at a roadblock between Camps Bay and Hout Bay.

A number of drivers have posted on a Facebook page, saying they had been caught with expired licences this week, but officers said a cash payment would make the fine disappear.

It is not clear whether the officers were legitimate police officers engaging in criminal activity, or criminals posing as police officers.

Conrad Coetzee was on the way to help a friend who had been mugged in Hout Bay on Wednesday night when he was pulled over in the parking lot near Cosy Beach.

His licence had expired, so the police officers were going to issue a fine.

“This guy says to me, ‘Ja, but for cash you can just go’. It wasn’t even a hint, it was properly blatant.”

“Once they realised that I had no intention of paying a cash fine they just let me go, saying that because I was going to assist someone they would let it slide.”

Camps Bay guesthouse owner Elize Sewell wrote that some of her foreign visitors had also been victims at the same roadblock, but on Tuesday night.

They were driving from Hout Bay to Camps Bay when they were pulled over by police. The driver had forgotten his licence at his accommodation.

“They told him they were going to give him a fine of R1 000 or he could pay a smaller cash fine on the spot. No receipt given for the ‘fine’. Go figure.”

Hout Bay Organised member Kerry Pryde was also solicited for a bribe at the roadblock on Wednesday night.

“We refused to buy the ‘on the spot fine’,” she wrote on the group. “I asked for the fine. Granted, I was in the wrong as my licence disc has just expired and I had not got around to replacing it.”

Pryde said she reported the incident at both Camps Bay and Hout Bay police stations.

However, police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut said there was no record of any cases reported. He urged victims to come forward.

Camps Bay Community Policing Forum was aware of the incident and said it was looking into it.