A 43-year-old former police constable was convicted of theft on Tuesday by the Tzaneen Magistrate's Court in Limpopo.

According to police spokesperson Captain Matimba Maluleke, former Tzaneen constable Mohale Aubrey Matswi approached two people who had assaulted two petrol attendants in March last year and offered to "mediate" between the two parties.

"It was agreed that the victims will be paid a once-off R10 000 compensation fee in order for them to drop the charges. The money was paid to Matswi to hand over to the victims; however, he opted to pay R7 000 only and kept R3 000 for himself.

"The matter was reported to the Serious Corruption Investigation Unit and Matswi was arrested for theft and later released on bail."

The court sentenced Matswi to a R2 000 fine or 12 months' imprisonment, half of which was suspended for five years. He was further ordered to compensate the complainants with R3 000 by the end of September.