A Free State female cop who was dismissed for being suspected of a robbery and theft is accusing her former boss of soliciting sexual favours in exchange of her keeping her job.
Lerato Moahloli, one of the nine police officers expelled from the SA Police Service following the alleged robbery and theft at a Chinese shop in Welkom, Free State said her former boss abused his position and capitalised on her desperation to get under her pants.
Relating the story, Moahloli said a group of officers raided the shop after a tip-off that the owners were selling cigarettes illegally during the Covid-19 hard lockdown in 2020.
The cops were later charged after the owner accused them of stealing R384 000 that was allegedly found in the premises during the raid.
She explained that before the group could be dismissed, their boss, who cannot be named for legal reasons, started making sexual advances on her. She said he would phone her during odd hours and send her messages on WhatsApp asking for an intimate relationship.
He promised to protect her from being dismissed only if she agreed to have sex with him, according to Moahloli, and offered to provide for her and her children.
“Shortly after I turned him down, I was dismissed. He wanted to use his position of power to get in my underwear,” said Moahloli.
In WhatsApp messages seen by Sunday World, the police boss is asking Moahloli to be his lover. This he continued doing even after she had turned him down.
The 32-year-old mother of two shared that life has been hard since her dismissal, noting that she has been diagnosed with stress and depression, and cannot afford the cost of her medication.
“I have moments where I get stressed and depression hits so bad that I feel like there is no point in living. I no longer have medical aid and I cannot afford my own medication.”
Kgothatso Bless, another police officer who was also dismissed, said there was nothing unlawful that the officers did during the raid of a Chinese shop, adding that the charges against them were fabricated.
“Our arrest was planned because we touched where we were not supposed to touch. These Chinese nationals work with powerful people in the SAPS in the province” said Bless.
“We were arrested three months after the Chinese complained, and according to our knowledge, as soon as a person opens a case against another, they get apprehended immediately.
“How are we accused of theft when we counted and booked the money in the presence of our superiors and the complainants?”
Bless echoed Moahloli’s sentiments that life outside of the police force is hard.
“I am jobless, that alone has taken a toll on me. A lot of us are not coping financially because the money we received, we paid our lawyers. Our cars have been repossessed and [our] marriages [have] collapsed, it is not nice,” said Bless.
The provincial police spokesperson in the Free State, Brigadier Motantsi Makhele, distanced the SAPS from the alleged sexual advances on Moahloli.
Zola Majavu, who represents the dismissed police officers, said: “Without pre-empting the outcome, it remains my considered view that the charges against them are baseless and I am determined to do my best for them,” said Majavu.
“It is sad that they lost their jobs for doing their job very well. Once they are vindicated in court, I hold instructions to launch a civil lawsuit for malicious prosecution, but we will await the outcome of pending criminal proceedings.”
The case is back in court on November 1 for further state witnesses.
Attempts to get a comment from the accused top cop drew a blank as he did not respond to our phone calls and text messages.
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