The ANC did not understand what the fuss was about regarding former national crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli, secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Monday.

“Why should the case of a civil servant who is in trouble in his department become a national matter?” he asked at a news briefing following the party’s national executive committee meeting.

“Why should it be elevated to a national question?”

Another suspension notice has reportedly been issued to Mdluli after Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced on May 9 that Mdluli would be moved from crime intelligence to a position in the office of the deputy national police commissioner for operations, Fannie Masemola.

Mdluli was first suspended in 2011 when he was arrested on fraud and murder allegations, but that suspension was lifted in March this year. The allegations will instead be tested by the Auditor General and at an inquest.

Mantashe wanted to know why the same fuss was not made when National Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi took the trade and industry department to court after seeing her position advertised in a newspaper, and concluded she was losing her job.

“Civil servants will run into court from time to time… it is not a train smash,” said Mantashe.

“Why should the NEC spend an hour discussing that civil servant?” he said, in response to a media question on the party’s stance on Mdluli.

“That department can shift a man, that department can expel a man…it’s a civil servant.”

Meanwhile, it had no objection to NEC member, businessman and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale asking the Public Protector to investigate the possible abuse of authority and state resources by Mdluli.

“I can take anybody to the Public Protector. You are an individual. You are a citizen. It can’t be an issue for the NEC,” he said.

In a statement on Saturday, Sexwale said his request related to the “so-called ground coverage intelligence report”, supposedly linked to Mdluli.

It is said to contain allegations that five Cabinet ministers, three premiers, and other people, were involved in a plot to unseat ANC president Jacob Zuma at the upcoming elective conference of the ANC in Mangaung in December.

In April, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said she would first wait for the Inspector General of Intelligence Faith Radebe to conclude her own probe into Mdluli’s alleged abuse of R5 million from an intelligence secret fund, before deciding on a request for a probe by the Democratic Alliance and the FW de Klerk Foundation.

On Monday SABC radio news reported that acting police chief Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi signed a notice of suspension for Mdluli.

“I signed a notice of suspension on Sunday (May 13) but other than that I’m not sure… was it delivered and what’s the latest on it,” he said. – Sapa