With the latest addition of an administration clerk, 15 people have been arrested by the Hawks in the Free State for the issuing of driver’s and learner’s licences.
The clerk, Mosethle Samuel Masopa (49), added to the 14 people previously arrested for corruption concerning the unlawful issuing of driver’s licences and learner’s licences at the Lengau Testing Centre in Bloemfontein.
Masopa appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 28 June, on charges of corruption, fraud, and money laundering after being served with court summons on 13 June.
Intelligence-driven information about the Traffic Department and private examiners in Bloemfontein, Brandfort, Botshabelo, Ladybrand, Phalaborwa, and Nelspruit pertaining traffic officers, and driving school instructors and runners who were involved in issuing learner’s and driver’s licences without following proper procedures was received in 2022,” says WO Fikiswa Matoti, spokesperson for the Hawks.
Operation Catfish was subsequently set up, with several transactions concluded over a period and evidence thereof presented before court.
On 26 January, the Director of Public Prosecutions authorised warrants of arrest for 20 individuals.
“Early on the morning of 29 January, members of the Hawks, Tactical Response Team (TRT), and Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) arrested nine men and five women, aged between 30 and 57 years, at different locations,” says Matoti.
Masopa was released on a warning and his matter was remanded to 14 August, to be transferred to the Regional Court in Bloemfontein.
