The Hawks anti-corruption officer charged with soliciting a R100 000 bribe to disrupt a Tembisa Hospital investigation was in tears during his court appearance this week in Pretoria, reports News24.
Papi Tsie, who entered the courtroom crying and appeared with Tembisa Hospital operations manager Zacharia Tshisele, wept no less than five times during proceedings, where he and his corruption co-accused were granted R5 000 bail on Tuesday.
Tsie is accused of telling a fellow Hawks officer that Tsisele would pay them R100 000 to prevent his arrest or have him turn state witness, protecting him from arrest in the Tembisa Hospital corruption investigation.
The pair was arrested in late November during a joint sting operation by the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority.
Both accused said they would plead not guilty.
During his bail application, Tsie cried again when describing his family circumstances, telling the court that he supported not only his wife and children, but also his pensioner mother and his unemployed sister and her two children, even though he only took home a net salary of R15 000.
Tshisele’s attorney, meanwhile, told the court his client earned a take-home salary of R39 000 as an operational manager at Tembisa Hospital and had raised R5 000 for bail.
Prosecutor Advocate Ngoako Mokumo acknowledged the seriousness of the charges but did not oppose bail, requesting conditions that included surrendering passports and refraining from interfering with witnesses.
In granting them bail, Magistrate Aubrey Mphahlele noted that neither accused had a previous conviction and that the state’s non-opposition indicated no substantial risk of flight or concerns regarding witness intimidation.
The SIU said Tshisele had received “unlawful gratification” from the Tembisa looting between 2020 and 2023. It revealed that he paid R13.5m to the SIU, which represented only a portion of the money he received.
The SIU said R122m was paid to at least 15 current and former officials and employees of the Health Department and Tembisa Hospital.
The case was postponed to 27 February 2026 for further investigations.
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