When two traffic cops allegedly took a bribe from a taxi driver to ignore his overloaded vehicle it was not their lucky day.
What neither driver nor traffic cops knew was that Ntombi Skwatsha, wife of provincial transport minister Mcebisi Skwatsha, was a passenger in the taxi that had been stopped on the N2 at about 8am on Monday.
And she lost no time in informing her husband of what she had seen.
She also drew up an affidavit containing the registration number of the traffic officials' car and a description of the men.
Within hours the traffic officials had been suspended and the minister had announced that corrupt traffic officials would be prosecuted and publicly shamed as part of a forceful new initiative against corruption.
Monday's incident, which happened to follow a three-day meeting on how to beat corruption, prompted the minister to launch his new drive early.
He said: "My wife called me and told me that she had boarded a taxi in Gugulethu, which was stopped by traffic officials on the N2 near the City Lodge turn-off, just before 8am."
She had seen one of the traffic cops approach the taxi and pretend to count the passengers. The taxi driver then threw money on to the ground, and the other official picked it up.
"I was angered at receiving this news, and I immediately started inquiries," said Skwatsha.
A meeting was hastily convened at the City of Cape Town traffic department at Gallows Hill between Skwatsha and City Traffic Manager Mervyn Merrington.
Skwatsha said he had decided to expose the incident "because corruption at the traffic department has to be stopped in its tracks, as a matter of urgency".
He said Merrington had assured him the matter would be treated as a priority, and that charges would be laid with the police.
Later David Erleigh, member of the City of Cape Town's Mayoral committee for safety and security, confirmed that two officers had been suspended and that a case had been opened with the police.
"I have asked the City of Cape Town Chief of City Police Services, Mark Sangster, to see that this matter is fully investigated," he said.
"I reiterate previous calls to the community and taxi drivers to come forward with information so that the city can rid itself of corruption.
"Provincial and local government have made it abundantly clear that corruption will not be tolerated. I therefore support the action of Minister Skwatsha."
Skwatsha said he had gone public about the incident to "root out one of the demons in the transport sector, the corrupt practices of certain traffic officials".
He wanted the incident to serve as a deterrent to others in the department.
He had also raised the matter with taxi operators during the three days of consultations with stakeholders in September. "It takes two to tango, and taxi drivers should stop their collusion in these corrupt practices."
