Cops ‘doing damage control’
March 5 2011 at 07:35am
By Graeme Hosken and Sapa
By Graeme Hosken and Sapa
Public Protector
Thuli Madonsela. Photo: Etienne Creux
Maverick police officers have been
blamed for intimidating the Public Protector at her Pretoria office this week –
and demanding a copy of a letter that the police already had.
A Lieutenant-Colonel Maluleka and a
Captain Nkuta, of the SAPS’s Crime Intelligence Unit, arrived unannounced at
the office on Wednesday and demanded a lawyer’s letter which was among
documents that Public Protector Thuli Madonsela had based her highly critical
report on national Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele and his R500-million
lease for a new national headquarters from property tycoon and ANC supporter
Roux Shabangu.
Madonsela’s report was scathing of
Cele, saying his actions had amounted to “maladministration” and had been
“unlawful”.
The officers were allegedly acting on
the apparently “unsanctioned” orders of their commander, a Colonel Heine.
On Friday, as the country’s police
generals and their aides scrambled to minimise the unprecedented political
fallout from the scandal, politicians called for the Independent Complaints
Directorate to investigate the matter.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa ordered
Cele to personally investigate what had happened and who ordered it.
On Friday night, Hawks spokesman
Colonel McIntosh Polela called the visit illegal. He said the Public Protector
should have been told in advance about the visit.
“There was no need for an unannounced
visit. Management should also have been told about this, especially with an
issue as sensitive as this. It should have been sanctioned by the generals in
(Cele’s) office.”
The demand was apparently part of an
internal police investigation to establish who recently leaked the letter to
the media.
On Friday Madonsela’s spokeswoman,
Kgalalelo Masibi, said the Public Protector was demanding that Cele explain why
the document was needed because it was the police who had given her office the
letter during her investigation.
“The police were actually asking for
information which they themselves had,” said Masibi.
Madonsela’s highly critical report of
Cele dubbed “Against the Rules”, was released last week.
On Friday the Helen Suzman Foundation
(HSF) said the raid fuelled growing perceptions that the police were being used
to further political aims. “The raid follows on the heels of a damning report
into irregularities connected with a tender for the lease for a new police
headquarters. These actions pose a serious threat to the rights of both
individual citizens and Chapter Nine institutions mandated to protect those
rights under the constitution.”
Idasa’s political information and
monitoring service head, Judith February, supported an independent commission
of inquiry into the matter. “The implications and seriousness of this
unauthorised action cannot be ignored or under-estimated,” she said. “Any
perception of an attack on the Public Protector’s independence or integrity has
wide and far reaching implications for our democracy.
“We are extremely concerned that there
are maverick officers operating within the SAPS, just as we have seen within
other state intelligence agencies.
“Questions need to be asked about such
possible trends; whether intelligence agencies are being caught up in political
battles; who approved this action; and, whether these policemen were acting on
orders issued from inside or outside the SAPS,” she said.
Cele, who phone Madonsela on Thursday
to apologise, has protested that he neither knew of the raid, nor sanctioned
it.
On Friday night, a police source
scoffed at Cele’s claims that he knew nothing of the visit.
“Even if he didn’t sanction it he must
have known of it.
“This type of behaviour is not new. You
just have to look at the history of this saga and see what has happened to
journalists who have investigated the matter, and other criminal allegations
involving the crime intelligence fraternity,” said the police source.
“You can see it is part of the
‘sanctioned’ intimidation campaign. The report is an embarrassment to the
police and ultimately the government. You would be naive to think that you can
expose high-ranking officials and nothing will happen.
“Why would two senior policemen go on
their own account, without any ‘orders’ and demand documents. They were given
orders. They were told to ask specific questions and get specific documents,”
the source said.
“Police management is lying if they say
they knew nothing of this visit. They are simply trying to do damage control,”
said the source.
The South African Law Society, in a
statement on the unannounced “incursion”, said: “The unexplained actions… create
the perception that criminal activity is involved… that the Public Protector
cannot independently investigate complaints of abuse of power,
maladministration, improper or unlawful conduct against public bodies or
servants without fear of reprisal or intimidation.”
