Metro cops face
criminal case
Thursday, 19/07/2012 - 16:44
According to the City of Joburg, the anti-corruption hotline has
registered about 160 complaints since 23 April. The
internal investigation into the six Johannesburg metro police officials who
were involved in the April assault of two Ivory Park residents has been
concluded, the City of Johannesburg has said.
The city has
confirmed that the six officials are now facing a criminal case for the assault
of Andries Ndlovu and Joseph Khumalo, and the investigation is being handled by
the Independent Police Investigations Directorate (IPID).
The internal
department investigation had been concluded and was pending prosecution.
Judgement would be announced soon after case adjudicators had converged, said
city spokesperson Gabu Tugwana.
Following media
reports about the incident, which took place on uMnotho Street in Ivory Park on
20 April, the six cops were identified and taken off the streets. They were stripped off their uniforms and an internal investigation
was undertaken.
Ndlovu and
Khumalo are hawkers. They were assaulted by the metro cops just days after
Corruption Watch released a damning report on corruption in the Johannesburg
Metro Police Department (JMPD).
The six officers
were carrying out administrative duties throughout the investigation, and
Tugwana confirmed that they would continue to receive salaries until the
outcome of the case. “The Labour Relations Act is very clear about such
matters: an employer may not stop salary payment of an employee whose case is
still not finalised and the guilty verdict pronounced.”
In the case of a
female JMPD officer who was arrested for soliciting a R1 000 bribe from a
Zimbabwean official, Lennon Kheswa, in April, Tugwana said the matter had been
put on hold after Kheswa returned to Zimbabwe. He had work obligations and
could no longer stay in South Africa.
“The case has
been temporarily closed as undetected until the complainant can return to South
Africa for the case to be opened provided that the required information is
sufficient to prosecute the perpetrator,” said Tugwana.
The officer
concerned is still performing her duties in a non-uniform environment.
Positive
response to hotline
A few weeks ago,
on 29 June, Corruption Watch made the City of Joburg its “zero of the week” for failing to respond to its recommendations on the JMPD report.
Khanya Umlaw of the city manager’s office responded to Corruption Watch, saying the city would soon announce a number of important steps to
address bribery and corruption in the department.
On Monday, 23
April, the day Corruption Watch released its JMPD report, the city issued a
press release welcoming the report. It urged people to report corruption and
other wrongful acts on its 24-hour hotline, 0800 213 712.
The hotline
number has been displayed throughout the media and was also published on
Corruption Watch’s website homepage. It has also been linked to the cellphone
of the chief of operations to ensure a 24/7 service.
The city has
told Corruption Watch that it has received a positive response from the public
since introducing the hotline. The number of complaints received varied from
day to day, and about 160 complaints had been received since 23 April, said
Tugwana.
Once a complaint
has been received and the accuracy of the information has been confirmed, the
matter is registered, investigated and a recommendation is made to indicate if
there is a prima facia case or not. Where there is not sufficient evidence, the
matter is captured by email for follow-up.
Out of the 160
calls received since 23 April, only 18 actual cases were opened. “The remainder
of calls received were of such a nature that they could not be pursued,” said
Tugwana. “They [complainants] were either not willing to testify or wanted to
remain anonymous.”
During this
period, three cases of extortion, bribery and corruption were investigated. Two
officers were dismissed for bribery and corruption that took place before 23
April, said Tugwana.
One officer was
charged with bribery and corruption for receiving R50 as a bribe for not
issuing a fine to a driver. The second officer, a cashier, was charged with
fraud and corruption for taking cash and replacing it with a fraudulent cheque.
Both officers were found guilty and were dismissed.
Every case would
be dealt with in terms of the disciplinary code and collective agreement, which
stipulated that disciplinary procedures should be finalised within a period of
90 days, but, Tugwana said, the city endeavoured to finalise the cases before
that time and inform the public thereafter.
