Rotten
top cop claims rock SA … again
The allegations stem from a
sworn statement signed on Monday by perennial stone in the police’s shoe
forensic consultant Paul O’Sullivan.
39 mins ago November 2016
Nearly
a million rand in cash in plastic shopping bags, death threats to
investigators, intimidation: it’s not a Lethal Weapon movie
plot, but for the fourth time in a row, serious allegations against South
Africa’s top cop have emerged, as well as against the Independent Police
Investigative Directorate’s (Ipid) Israel Kgamanyane, an additional detail many
appear to have missed.
Acting
national commissioner General Khomotso Phahlane – a career cop supposed to
restore faith in the South African Police Service after disasters around the
three previous civilian appointees – is being accused of defeating the ends of
justice by interfering in an Ipid investigation.
“We are not in a position to
comment at this stage without jeopardising our investigations,” said Ipid
spokesperson Moses Dlamini. “We take the death threats against our investigator
seriously and we will be working hard to identify the source of such death
threat.”
The other accusation of
corruption was levelled against Kgamanyane, whose position as acting executive
director was usurped when Robert McBride returned to work after his suspension
fell away.
The allegations stem from a
sworn statement signed on Monday by the perennial stone in the police’s shoe,
forensic consultant Paul O’Sullivan.
Kgamanyane had failed to investigate a complaint registered with
Ipid in January over a the financing of a luxury house built by Phahlane,
O’Sullivan stated, and claimed Kgamanyane had informed Phahlane about the
matter, and alleged further that Phahlane had been given a copy of the Ipid
investigation.
In April when O’Sullivan was dramatically hauled off a plane in
front of his children by Hawks officers, Gauteng Hawks boss Prince Mokotedi
allegedly accused him of lying about being a qualified engineer; Kgamanyane
being the only person O’Sullivan had previously disclosed this fact to in
January.
After McBride’s return, a new investigator was appointed to
O’Sullivan’s case, who received an SMS telling him and O’Sullivan to back off.
“u must stop now. we know where u stay and ur family. paul is a
stupid old man. his days r numbered. we r on his heels. u must either choose to
die with him,” the sms in part reads.
The SMS followed the rejuvenated investigation by Ipid into
O’Sullivan’s complaint over Phahlane’s alleged R8 million home in an exclusive
waterfront village. It discovered Phahlane had allegedly sent his personal
driver on at least two occasions to apparently deliver R350 000 in cash to
Phahlane’s contractor.
The only person who had the Ipid investigators’ and O’Sullivan’s
phone numbers was Phahlane’s contractor, claimed O’Sullivan, and he believed
this person had given the details to Phahlane.
“….the only possible and logical conclusion, is that Phahlane either
sent the SMS himself, or procured the sending of the SMS,” O’Sullivan wrote in
his worn statement.
Phahlane’s spokesperson, Brigadier Mashadi Selepe, said the
SAPS respected Ipid’s mandate to investigate any member of the police, and
Phahlane welcomed the investigation into the allegations.
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