A traffic officer is in the dock for allegedly trying to extract
a bribe from a judge she flagged down at a speed trap, Beeld
reported on Tuesday.
Johannesburg High Court judge Geraldine Borchers said the
official greeted her by saying: "Hello sweetie, are you having a
nice day?" and then allegedly suggested Borchers give her R200
instead of being fined R800.
Unity Lovely Mahlangu denies trying to bribe Borchers, who told
the court she had been "negligent" when travelling at 164kph on the
N4 between Pretoria and Bronkhorstspruit.
The court heard Borchers then went to where Mahlangu's three
colleagues were sitting next to the speed camera, but they looked
right through her, just staring at the road. Borchers stood in
front of the speed camera and threatened to smash it into pieces.
"(Mahlangu) was at this stage very upset and I was shaking," she
testified.
She gave Borchers a R600 fine. Borchers said in May an Inspector
Makaphela arrived in her chambers to try to convince her she was
too busy to go ahead with the bribery charge.
"I told him he actually has a complainant who is very ready to
go ahead."
The case was postponed to November.