Hawks 'canary' menaced by abusive SMS
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Mthandazo Ntlemeza’s daughter
allegedly sent abusive text messages to the cop who tried to bring him down
The daughter of newly appointed
Hawks boss Mthandazo Ntlemeza allegedly sent a string of threatening and
abusive text messages to the Limpopo police officer who had blown the whistle
on her father, including telling him that “you are going to eat your own shit
piece by piece”.
In another of the messages, Amanda
Ntlemeza allegedly wrote: “Remember every dog has its day … mark my words u r
going down”.
The whistle-blower, Lieutenant
Boitumelo Ramahlahla, had accused Ntlemeza of protecting Amanda’s alleged
boyfriend, also a Limpopo police officer, from facing criminal
charges.
Ramahlahla received this and four
other abusive messages from Amanda on September 11 this year, the day after her
father was named the new head of the Hawks.
Asked for comment, she said: “So why
do I have to answer to you? I have got nothing to say to you.”
“Complaint against unprofessional conduct”
Amanda Ntlemeza.
Ntlemeza’s appointment was
controversial — Pretoria high court Judge Elias Matojane found that he lacked
integrity, honesty and honour after he had perjured himself in court earlier
this year.
Several months before Matojane’s
findings, Ramahlahla brought his own concerns regarding Ntlemeza’s integrity to
the attention of the police minister.
On December 13, 10 days before
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko suspended the former Hawks boss, Anwa Dramat, and
brought in Ntlemeza, who was then the Limpopo deputy police commissioner,
Ramahlahla sent the minister an information note titled “Complaint against
unprofessional conduct: Major General Ntlemeza South African Police Service
Limpopo.”
The note contained claims that
Ntlemeza had protected a Captain Thomas Rallele, then commander of Limpopo’s
tactical response police unit, from facing allegations that he had abused state
vehicles in 2011.
Ramahlahla claimed Ntlemeza took no
action against Rallele because the latter was dating Amanda. He asked the
minister to investigate the allegations.
An internal police investigation in
2012 found that Rallele had falsified vehicle log entries. He was also
convicted in court of being in possession of a phone that had been stolen
during a house break-in in May 2014.
He remained on full pay for seven
months, but was eventually sacked in December 2014.
“Carrying goods obtained in house robberies and break-ins”
The note was also sent to Ntlemeza;
Limpopo’s provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Fannie Masemola; and the
province’s head of visible policing, Brigadier Nelson Mulaudzi.
The minister did not respond to
Ramahlahla’s note. In 2014 Ramahlahla lodged a criminal complaint against both
Rallele and Ntlemeza at the Polokwane police station. It appears the docket was
never forwarded to the Limpopo prosecuting authority and the case was withdrawn
on August 7 this year.
In January Ramahlahla also made a
statement to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), accusing
Ntlemeza of defeating the ends of justice.
He alleged that he received credible
information during 2012 that Rallele and other police officers were using state
vehicles “for carrying goods obtained in house robberies and break-ins”, and
that between 2012 and 2014 Ntlemeza failed to pursue criminal action against
Rallele despite the mounting evidence of criminal conduct.
Ramahlahla would not talk to
amaBhungane, but his lawyer, Yolandi Hewetson, said the matter was being
“thoroughly investigated” until the Ipid head, Robert McBride, was suspended in
March.
”Remember every dog has its day … mark my words u r going
down …”
Lieutenant Boitumelo Ramahlahla.
In May this year the Hawks hit back,
laying charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice against Ramahlahla,
based on allegations that he had introduced a “bogus cop, Captain Mailula, to
SAPS members in the Limpopo province”.
Mailula, a prison fugitive whose
real name was Alex Maake, was unmasked after working for two years as a police
officer.
On July 17 Ramahlahla was suspended
without pay. Hewetson claimed that since then he has received many threats,
including that he would be killed in a fake robbery.
In the first text message to
Ramahlahla, the day after her father’s promotion was announced Amanda Ntlemeza
allegedly wrote: “U shud say sumthing wena loser. u been having soo much 2 say
now go on en say sumthing u useless piece of rubbish. I wil sue u 4 ol the
nonsense u said about me.
“Remember every dog has its day …
mark my words u r going down …”
When Ramahlahla asked who the
message was from, she allegedly replied: “U will find out soon, nw I will b
dealing with u … 1 on 1. Uzondazi wena nja [You’ll know me, you dog]. Kudala
sikuyekile nw kuzonyiwa [We have left you for a long time, now shit is about
to go down].”
She also allegedly told him:
“Usinyele too much manje amasimba akho uzo wadla piece by piece [You’ve given
us too much shit but now you are going to eat your shit piece by piece].”
“Under investigation”
Hewetson said that, 10 days after
receiving the messages, Ramahlahla received a “visit” from a senior Hawks
investigator, Lieutenant Colonel Lesiba Malapile, “and his team” in Polokwane.
The lawyer alleges that Malapile told Ramahlahla that he was not going to “win
against the general” — an apparent reference to Ntlemeza. Although the
Hawks previously dismissed this as an allegation, Mulaudzi said this week it
“is under investigation by the SAPS”.
On October 9 Ramahlahla, Maake’s
wife and a provincial education department official appeared in court after
being arrested and charged with contravening the Correctional Services Act for
being in illegal communication with Maake. The case has been
postponed.
Asked to comment on Amanda’s
messages, Mulaudzi said: “The so-called messages are not DPCI [the Hawks]
related.
The M&G Centre for
Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) produced this story. All views are ours.
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