KZN police boss in trouble
February 27 2015 at 09:31am
By Sihle Manda and Tania Broughton
THE
MERCURY
Mammonye Ngobeni
Durban - KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye
Ngobeni may finally face the music for her alleged close relationship with
Durban businessman Thoshan Panday.
National police spokesman Solomon Mokgale confirmed to The Mercury that
she faced disciplinary action and that a report had been received from the
Independent Police Investigation Directorate, Ipid.
He said police were investigating charges under section 12 (“serious
misconduct”) of the police regulations against her and two other officers,
Colonel Navin Madhoe and Captain Aswin Narainpershad.
Regulations stipulate that the investigation must be completed “as soon
as reasonably possible”.
The Mercury previously reported that Ngobeni allegedly ordered the Hawks
to stop investigating Panday.
Panday and Narainpershad were charged in 2011 with conspiracy to commit
fraud and corruption, in trying to bribe another policeman to accept false
invoices for World Cup accommodation. The charges were provisionally withdrawn
in 2013 because of problems with evidence.
Madhoe and Panday were accused in 2011 of trying to bribe Major-General
Booysen, the Hawks head at the time, with R2m to quash investigations into the
R60m accommodation scam. Those charges were withdrawn in April 2014 because of
“irregularities”.
The disciplinary hearing against Ngobeni comes barely two months after
her five-year contract was renewed. She will answer to allegations, that she
had a cosy relationship with Panday, at a departmental inquiry in which, if
found guilty, she could lose her job.
The relationship first came to the fore in 2010, when Panday had
allegedly funded a surprise party arranged for the commissioner’s husband,
Brigadier Lucas Ngobeni.
The Mercury first reported in September 2011 on the party, held at The
Dish restaurant at the Royal Palm Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks on May 29, 2010.
According to police statements, the party was paid for by Panday.
The Mercury reported that 40 guests - many of them high-ranking police
officers - enjoyed a R220-a-head buffet dinner, with champagne, wine, whisky
and a DJ thrown in.
The following year, the Hawks told Ngobeni she was a suspect and she was
interviewed in her office by officers.
But, in spite of affidavits from the restaurant owner and DJ, the
provincial director of public prosecutions declined to press charges.
According to a well-placed police source, the Ipid report- dated
February 13, 2015 - instructed national police commissioner Riah Phiyega to
institute disciplinary proceedings against the three.
Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini declined to comment and referred queries to
the SAPS headquarters.
In an e-mailed response to The Mercury, Makgale said the three would be
investigated in line with SAPS disciplinary processes.
He said, based on recommendations made by the report, a “regulation 12
investigation is going to be conducted” by the police.
T
he outcome of that investigation would determine whether disciplinary
charges would be preferred.
“This is the process we follow on all matters referred to the SAPS by
Ipid.”
He said that in terms of disciplinary matters, only the SAPS as the
employer could bring charges against an employee.
Approached for comment, Ngobeni said: “What can I say? Speak to head
office.”
The Mercury was unable to contact Madhoe, Narainpershad or their
attorneys despite e-mails and telephone calls.
The DA’s spokeswoman on police, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, welcomed the
findings,
She said: “I trust that the disciplinary hearing will be run by an
advocate - as was the one on Johan Booysen (provincial Hawks head). I want to
see even-handed play.”
She hoped it would not be a “little internal ‘chommie’ thing with
someone doing a tick-box exercise saying she’s cleared”.
“I want a full investigation with an advocate - someone who is not
involved with the police. That’s the only process I will accept as.”
The Mercury
