Picture: The traffic officers duirng parade in North West/Generic
By OBAKENG MAJE
22 June 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said his department has noted with disquiet concern what appears to be an unceasing concerted effort by unknown individuals to scam unsuspecting and desperate unemployed young people by promising to train them as traffic officers. Morweng said this comes after one of these scammers going by name of ‘Mr Mantswe’ allegedly solicits money from the desperate unemployed young people under the guise of securing positions for them in the Road Traffic Learnership.
He further said the scammer allegedly promise those who had applied for traffic learnership to take them to the college “in Welkom in the Free State”. Morweng added that, this cretin allegedly tell innocent victims that he comes from his office and had scammed several young people about R700 each ostensibly for “transport”.
“The department wishes to inform the public that the traffic learnership recruitment process has been concluded and successful applicants have already been taken to the college at the beginning of this month.
“The department will inform the prospective applicants through official platforms, including website and social media pages when the next recruitment cycle starts.
We call on individuals who had been conned off by these roguish people to lay charges with the police,” he said.
Morweng said this is an illegal conduct by those who seek to take advantage of unemployed young people who are in the market for job opportunities. He said they are appealing to take to report these people to the police and to the department.
“Meanwhile our Legal Unit has opened the case with Mmabatho Police Station for further investigation. The department would like to put it on record that it follows guidelines and procedures outlined by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) on employment processes.
“This includes the recruitment of candidates on the traffic learnership. The recruitment process does not require any money from applicants as the department pays for the transportation and training costs of the successful applicants,” said Morweng.
He said the public is advised to be cautious of these criminal elements and to report any suspicious behaviour to their nearest police station and to the department.
The Guardian 