ON THE video the tsotsi cop shakes his baton and warns the driver to pay the money or go to the cells.
He tells the driver: “Most of the guys, I look after them and they look after me.”
AND THEN HE WARNS: I DON’T LIKE SOMEBODY WHO IS LYING. I GET ANGRY.
Foreign truck drivers who operate at KZN’s Durban Harbour, near the Maydon Wharf Police Station, said cops demand a R1 000 bribe if they find anything wrong with the drivers’ papers.
A terrified driver was brave enough to make a video, hiding his phone behind his hand. He sent the video to Daily Sun.
In the video the cop asks a driver who has just been arrested to pay a bribe to be let off.
The man who made the video said nobody reports these cops because they don’t want to risk their lives.
He said the drivers know the police officers well.
“We’ve even named them. We call them High Rate because they demand R1 000 or more. If you don’t have money, you are forced to go back to your country,” said the driver.
The drivers even know the cops’ shifts. “The drivers know when the High Rates are at work. These cops are ruthless, they can make anything up to R15 000 a day,” he said.
He said the cops patrol at Kings Rest Container Park, Bayhead.
In the video, one cop can be heard saying: “The guys from Zimbabwe are good drivers. They are hard workers. You spoil the party. I want you to suffer.”
The cop was speaking to a Zimbabwean driver who had been arrested and was waiting for someone to bring the bribe in order for him to be freed. The cop accused him of lying about the bribe.
The cop even brags about how he had driven a driver to his wife to get the bribe.
Police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said that drivers who had been victimised should come forward.
“We urge the victims to come forward and lay formal complaints. The anti-corruption unit can be contacted, as well as IPID. If a member is found asking for bribes he is arrested and they must face the consequences.
The commander of the operational response services at Durban Harbour can also be contacted on 031 319 2002,” said Zwane.
