Cape Town Court Interpreter Appears in Court After Allegedly Soliciting R30,000 Bribe

• A court interpreter who works at the Blue Downs Magistrate's Court has appeared before a judge for her alleged crimes
• The woman allegedly promised a suspect's sister that the suspect would be released on bail and demanded R10,000 in return
• She tried to extort more from them, and the magistrate she attempted to implicate got wind of the activities and alerted the police

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered police investigations and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

BLUE DOWNS, CAPE TOWN – A court interpreter from the Western Cape appeared in court after she tried to solicit R30,000 from a suspect's relatives and promised that the suspect would be given bail.

Court interpret gets into trouble

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The interpreter, Nomvuyo Dyosi, allegedly approached suspect Lennox Ntsodo's sister, Zimasa Ntsodo, after Lennox appeared in court on a fraud charge in October 2023, according to TimesLIVE. She approached Zimasa at Lennox's bail application and reported asking her to buy sweets for the magistrate to rescue her, referring to paying the magistrate a bribe.

Dyosi allegedly told Zimasa that the judge wanted R30,000, but when Ntsodo said the family could not afford the money, Dyosi dropped the amount to R10,000. Zimasa then withdrew the money and met Dyosi at a tavern, where she gave it to her.

When Lennox was granted bail in November, Dyosi demanded that Zimasa pay the outstanding balance of R20,000. Distraught, Zimasa told a family member, who is also a court employee. The member told the judge what was happening. After denying the claims, the judge informed the police.

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South Africans disappointed in interpreter

Social media commentators on Facebook expressed their disappointment with the court interpreter.

Mike McCarthy said:

"From job to jail."

Frans Manamela said:

"South Africa is rotten."

Nobs Pinky Sithole said:

"Expensive sweets, those."

Vulindlela Ndlela said:

"Some idiots are useless."

Tornado Willy Stsuatsua said:

"This is what is happening in Attridgeville Magistrate's Court."

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula faces charges relating to R2.3M bribe

in a similar article, Briefly News reported that Parliament's former speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, is facing corruption charges.

She allegedly received over R2 million in bribes during her tenure as the Minister of Defence between 2016 and 2019.

Source: Briefly News