Phahlane on his 'lifestyle, many women and
love child'
2017-02-02
16:15
Thulani Gqirana, News24
Acting national police
commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane. (News24, file)
Cape Town – Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General
Khomotso Phahlane would welcome any investigation into his career, he has said.
He has also been the subject of lifestyle audits, he said, and
would welcome them again.
And Police Minister Nathi Nhleko would not have hesitated to act
against Phahlane, if he had been found guilty of violating the law, Nhleko said
on Thursday.
The minister and the acting national commissioner were briefing
Parliament's police committee on the allegations of corruption Phahlane is
facing.
A confident Phahlane told the committee that he had heard there
were calls for his entire career to be scrutinised.
"There is no objection to that. I've got a proud track record
as a member of the service. The issues we are dealing with are issues during my
time as the divisional commissioner of forensic services and I continue to be
proud to have had an opportunity to manage that environment."
Unfairly persecuted
If he had to go back to the forensic unit again tomorrow, he would
do so proudly, he told the committee.
Detailing the various investigations into his lifestyle, he
painted a picture of a man who was being unfairly persecuted.
This was in relation to allegations that he had sexual
relationships with subordinates, was involved in corruption, as well as
irregular appointments at the forensic services.
He also addressed allegations of tax violation and questions about
his house.
Phahlane said the value of his house kept changing in media
reports, depending on the day, from between R3m to R8m.
"I have also heard R10m being mentioned," he said.
Trial by media
What was happening now, Phahlane said, was a trial by media.
"I so wish that there was a car that delivered these bags of
money because I would have shared with you, even after the fact minister,"
a carefree Phahlane said before the committee.
"It's as if we are hooligans carrying around bags full of
money taking them to places. It's damaging," he said.
He was even more dismissive of old allegations of a love child
conceived with a Brigadier Linda De Wit (Kleynhans), who was at the meeting.
"Now to address my many women and children. If I had a child
with her, our child would be coloured. I hear that we have stashed this child
here in the Western Cape, maybe we should go see this child after this meeting
and you are welcome to take pictures," he joked.
He said he was a man with a wife and children and these
allegations did not sit well with him.
Confidence in Phahlane
Nhleko was asked if he still had confidence in Phahlane.
"The question is, this report is clear in terms of what
happened and I'm fine with that," Nhleko said.
If the report had laid out different results, he said, he would
not have hesitated to subject Phahlane to a disciplinary hearing. And he had
told him this.
"There can't be allegations and they end somewhere mid-air
like the highways in Cape Town. You must subject them to a particular process.
The forensic report clears most of the issues and I am fine with that."
A lot of emphasis was placed on private investigator Paul
O'Sullivan and his role in the investigation against Phahlane.
Asked who O'Sullivan was, Nhleko said: "He is a private
investigator, I am told. He is English, I am told."
Nhleko attributed the current storm around Phahlane to a fight for
the position the acting commissioner currently holds.
He said since the Classen report on suspended national
commissioner Riah Phiyega's fitness to hold office, people were
"jostling" to get the job.
Discussing O'Sullivan, Phahlane said he [Phahlane] was merely one
of a number of people that the private investigator was determined to "deal
with".
"He has a hall of fame and my name is there, and so is my
minister," he said.
