A mother and her son arrested for soliciting R100,000 bribe were due to appear in the Klerksdorp Magistrate's Court yesterday (Thursday).
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as the Hawks) arrested the 49-year-old woman and her 20-year-old son on Wednesday, after a contractor paid them R30,000 in cash.
Hawks spokesperson in North West, Lieutenant-Colonel Tinyiko Mathebula, said the woman reportedly approached the contractor in Klerksdorp in January, where she introduced herself as the chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) in the Matlosana local municipality.
The contractor reportedly told her to inform him when the municipality advertised tenders.
She told him that she would see what she could do.
"In March 2023, the suspect reportedly had a meeting with the complainant where she told him that his business partner was awarded a tender by the municipality to collect refuse.
"It is further alleged that she told the complainant that she was aware that he had rented his trucks to his business partner and that he was also benefiting from the tender," Mathebula said.
The contractor claimed the woman gave him an ultimatum to pay her R100,000, or the contract would be cancelled and never renewed.
He said members of the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team received information about payment arrangements which the suspect had reached with the complainant.
" The suspect and her son were arrested soon after being paid R30,000 in cash by the complainant," he said.
They have been charged with corruption.
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