JMPD investigate after journos asked for bribe

The Joburg Metro Police is investigating cops who stand accused of extorting a bribe from four BBC cricket journalists.

Johannesburg - The Joburg Metro Police is investigating JMPD officers who stand accused of extorting a bribe from four foreign journalists.

The officers, alleged to be members of the JMPD, pulled over the four-person crew of cricket analysts, commentators and sports journalists working for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) covering the Cricket Test match between England and the Proteas on Friday.

Britain’s Daily Mail identified the four journalists as Michael Vaughan, Henry Blofeld, Jonathan Agnew and Simon Mann. At the time of the alleged incident, the commentators were driving to their undisclosed Joburg hotel.

According to the Daily Mail, Agnew was driving the rental car when he was ordered to get out of the vehicle and hand over about £40 (about R931) for allegedly driving without a driver’s licence.

The four men took to Twitter to share their experience.

Agnew revealed in a series of tweets that fellow commentators Vaughan, Blofeld and Mann had to dig deep in their pockets to pay off the policeman. “He (the officer) was taking Aggers to the cop shop! He said Right, empty your pockets, give me your money, what have you got? We were all emptying our pockets. I had to give him an English tenner. It was dangerous territory for us all.”

Still. Could have been worse. Officer kindly let me keep 20 Rand (85p) to see me through till Wednesday evening.

— Jonathan Agnew (@Aggerscricket) January 22, 2016

He said: “He made us empty our pockets and took the cash. Please do not suggest I bribed him.”

He added: “Very nice of the kind officer to let me go. After I had emptied my pockets of cash and given it to him. #corruption.”

Vaughan appeared to laugh off the incident on Sunday. He said he snapped a photo of Agnew and the rogue officer on his cellphone.

JMPD spokewoman Edna Mamonyane said she didn’t have information about the alleged incident and they were relying on information from journalists. “What I can say is that an internal investigation has been opened.”

Mamonyane said foreign nationals staying in South Africa longer ought to covert their driving licences to international driving licences but if they were staying in the country briefly, then the law allowed them to use driving licences from their home countries.

kgopi.mabotja@inl.co.za

The Star