Pretoria – Eight of the 11 Tshwane metro police officers accused of providing unofficial security to Gupta wedding guests pleaded guilty on Monday, an official said.

Two pleaded not guilty and one would be charged only when he returned from sick leave, municipal spokesperson Blessing Manale said in a statement.

The internal disciplinary hearing would resume on 27 June.

Last month, Tshwane metro police executive director Console Tleane said the extent of the damage caused by the officers’ involvement in the fiasco was being investigated.

“We need to ask to what extent has the integrity of the police department, and indeed the City of Tshwane, been compromised,” he said at the time.

“It is a matter of common cause that this matter has caused anxiety within the entire country, and therefore, any association with the said developments would have the potential to compromise the municipality,” he said.

Unauthorised escort

The metro police officers allegedly provided wedding guests with an unauthorised escort and security from Waterkloof Air Force Base, in Pretoria, to Sun City, in North West.

The guests were on board a jet, chartered by the Gupta family, which landed at the military base.

Without revealing the charges the officers faced, he said a probe would examine whether they violated municipal policy, which prohibits external work without the chief of police’s permission.

“That policy also states that an employee may not engage in private work that is similar, or almost similar, to what their official work entails,” said Tleane.

The officers allegedly fitted blue lights and false number plates to their private vehicles to escort guests to the Gupta family wedding.

– SAPA