Mpumalanga’s top cops in firing line
5 May 2012 16:21
‘It’s very tense at the top. Those who aren’t in good books are facing
the music’
One of Mpumalanga’s most senior police
officers has found herself on the wrong side of the law after being charged
with fraud.
Major-General Thembi Hadebe, a deputy
provincial commissioner, is accused of claiming accommodation and travel
expenses for a private trip. She appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court
last week and was released on R1 000 bail.
Hadebe is not the only senior officer facing
travel claim fraud charges.
Brigadiers Moses Bolton (head of strategic
management) and Vusi Mdakane (former Nelspruit group commanding officer) have
been arrested for similar offences. Mdakane has since been dismissed.
But sources within the provincial police
force believe there may be another motive behind Hadebe’s charges.
A number of well-placed sources say Hadebe
incurred the wrath of provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Thulani
Ntombela when she questioned several developments in the Jimmy Mohlala murder
case.
Mohlala is the former Mbombela speaker who
was murdered in 2009 after exposing widespread alleged tender corruption around
Nelspruit’s Fifa World Cup stadium.
Two police constables, Finish Mkhabela and
Dumisani Mhlanga, were among the five suspects arrested and charged with the
murder.
Police sources have informed City Press that
Hadebe became unpopular with Ntombela after she advised that Mkhabela and
Mhlanga be charged internally for misconduct until further evidence had been
gathered against them.
City Press has a copy of a letter Hadebe
wrote to her senior Ntombela questioning the disciplinary process.
In it, she wrote: “The statements (of
witnesses) were perused and it was found that the information (or evidence) is
insufficient to prove the case as well as to decide on possible suspension of
these members (Mkhabela and Mhlanga).
“This office requests that the departmental trial for these members be delayed to collect more evidence, for example, ballistic results.”
But commissioner Ntombela pressed on, and fired the two constables in March last year.
In January, charges against the two officers
and the three co-accused were withdrawn in the Nelspruit Circuit Court.
Hadebe declined to comment further, only
saying: “I’m not someone for the limelight.
I’ll fight whatever charges I’m facing in
court.”
Sources have informed City Press that morale
among the province’s senior officers was incredibly low and that cops spent a
great deal of time digging for dirt on their colleagues.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel
Leonard Hlathi said it was wrong to suggest that Hadebe was targeted for
opposing Ntombela.
“That is misrepresentation of facts and it
remains to be seen why (you, the reporter) quote only this particular incident,
whereas there are a number of decisions where Ntombela used his discretion
despite the recommendations of his deputies,” he said.
Hlathi said police officers who believed they
were being unfairly targeted should exhaust the grievance procedures within the
SA Police Service. “The low morale among senior officers cannot be confirmed
nor denied as there is no measure or survey conducted to determine this.
“It must be reiterated that in all the cases
where these officers are charged, Ntombela is not the complainant.”
Hlathi added that all the senior officers
were arrested for submitting fraudulent claims, but declined to disclose
details of their disciplinary hearings.
Bolton, he said, has been suspended while an
internal investigation against Hadebe was still under way.
“It’s very tense at the top right now. Those
who are not in Ntombela’s good books are facing the music,” said a well-placed
source.
