Four policemen were behind bars on Friday following an exposé on South African Broadcasting Corporation television showing policemen demanding bribes from prostitutes and their clients in Johannesburg suburbs, said Gauteng safety and security minister Firoz Cachalia.
Speaking at the opening of the police’s new provincial headquarters in Parktown, Cachalia said three policemen were arrested on Thursday night and another one of Friday morning.
They were being held at different police stations in the city.
The investigation was still continuing and more arrests were expected soon.
Seven policemen were identified and suspended after the television programme.
On Tuesday, SABC’s Special Assignment programme showed police demanding and taking bribes from sex workers and their clients in Oxford Street in Rosebank and in Rosettenville, south of Johannesburg.
The bribes, dubbed ”spot fines”, were as much as R1 000 and up to R30 000 could be made by crooked policemen in one month, Special Assignment said.
According to the sex workers who were filmed, some policemen demanded sex from them and would continuously harass them. Some sex workers reported being assaulted by policemen. – Sapa