Africa-Press – South-Africa. Three Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) officers accused of kidnapping a man and extorting him will be making representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on why they should not be prosecuted.
Johnson Lebombo, Aubrey Phalane and Makgoba Raboshacia briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
The State placed it on record that disclosure had been made which included video footage.
The defence told the court it would be making representations to the DPP and if those did not succeed, representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions would be made.
The case was postponed to 9 October for the outcome of the representations.
The three officers have been charged with kidnapping, robbery, extortion and intimidation relating to an incident in September 2022.
The trio pulled over a motorist, who was with his girlfriend and their 10-year-old daughter, and accused him of speeding.
They then allegedly disarmed him of his personal firearm. He was threatened with arrest and forced to withdraw cash from an ATM at a petrol station in Rigel Avenue in Pretoria.
After withdrawing the money, the motorist was allegedly forced into the back of the police van and driven to a desolate area, where he handed over the R4 000 he had withdrawn.
He was also reportedly robbed of a further R1 000, which was in his wallet.
History of misconduct
News24 previously reported Lebombo and Phalane allegedly have a history of misconduct.
The two men were suspended in 2022 following allegations of serious acts of misconduct.
However, according to a City of Tshwane source, the suspensions lapsed, and they were allowed to return to work.
Since then, there have allegedly been more acts of serious misconduct, which led to the city manager’s decision to suspend the two officers again in June.
It is understood more than a dozen criminal cases have been opened against the two officers, which include allegations ranging from corruption, extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and assault with the intention to do grievous bodily harm to theft.
The cases were opened between 2017 and 2022.
According to a DPP document, which News24 has seen, a decision had been taken to institute prosecutions in several cases.
Despite this, only one is before the courts.
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, which is holding a watching brief for the City of Tshwane on the case in court, expressed concern the two men were facing so many cases yet continued to work as officers.
The unit’s spokesperson, Barry Bateman, said:
He added: “We hope that justice will prevail and that these men in blue are finally brought to book.”
Dozens of officers probed for corruption
Lebombo and Phalane are not the only metro police officers who are currently under investigation.
In June, TMPD spokesperson Isaac Mahamba said they were investigating 225 cases against other officers.
These cases include corruption, bribery, extortion, and kidnapping.
Mahamba said these were cases that were reported to them in the current financial year.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
