Top cop in nepotism claim
over tainted son
30 June 2016,
10:43am
LUYOLO MKENTANE
Johannesburg
- Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Deliwe de Lange is facing
allegations of nepotism after her son Tshidiso Damane was admitted to a police
training college with a criminal charge hanging over his head.
A charge
of common assault opened against Damane, 28, was withdrawn on March 30, 2015,
allegedly three days after his admission to the police academy in Gauteng.
police commissioner Lieutenant-General Deliwe de Lange File
Picture: Neo Ntsoma. Credit:
THE STAR
Police
Minister Nathi Nhleko has, however, defended Damane’s enlistment, saying he was
subjected to “psychometric testing, physical assessment, interview, medical
evaluation, fingerprints and met all the requirements for enlistment as a police
trainee”.
The DA
has disregarded the minister’s explanations, saying it was highly questionable
that Damane was better qualified or one of the “more exemplary applicants to
enter the SAPS”.
In a
parliamentary response, the minister said Damane was currently on a two-year
contract and would only be permanently appointed as a member of the SAPS “on
successful completion of the prescribed training”.
Nhleko,
who admitted that Damane was De Lange’s son, was replying to questions from DA
MP and shadow police minister Zakhele Mbhele, which The Star has seen.
Damane,
according to Nhleko’s answers, faced two charges of common assault, and
domestic violence related and malicious damage to property.
However,
the common assault docket was withdrawn by the public prosecutor on May 11,
2010 and finalised by way of “alternative dispute resolution”, while the common
assault one was withdrawn by the complainant on March 30, 2015.
The
complainant, Nhleko wrote in his reply, indicated that “she did not want to
continue with the case as she was relocating to Cape Town. She indicated that
the case was going to take too much of her time”.
Mbhele
said they were concerned about nepotism in the police service, saying such ills
contributed to the “chronic neglect that has left the SAPS in a shoddy and
declining state” with under-resourced personnel.
His
colleague, Kate Lorimer, the party’s shadow MEC for Safety and Security in
Gauteng, raised concern over De Lange’s integrity, “as charges against her son
were withdrawn after being admitted to police training college”.
This
raised questions of whether De Lange “has had a hand in the withdrawal of
charges against Damane, as well as him being fast-tracked into the SAPS”.
De Lange
could not be reached for comment.
Acting
Gauteng head of corporate communication, Colonel Noxolo Kweza, absolved De
Lange of having played a part in her son’s recruitment into the SAPS, saying
Damane went through a “stringent” selection process like other recruits.
Kweza
told The Star that the SAPS recruitment process involved comments and inputs
from community members, and said: “The decision on whether to take the
applicant or not is finalised and taken by head office without involvement of
the provincial office.”
She added
that their recruitment policy did not exclude “family members of current (SAPS)
members to apply for positions in the organisation”.
Lorimer
said she would ask for the records relating to Damane’s application to join the
SAPS to see whether he declared he had any criminal or civil charges pending
against him.
“Considering
the one case was only dropped after he entered the training college, one
wonders how he was accepted if he declared there was a common assault case
pending,” she said.
The
police service had no place for nepotism and cronyism, “and the DA will not shy
away from summoning Commissioner de Lange before the Parliamentary Committee to
explain her actions”, Lorimer said.
