Controversial former crime boss Richard Mdluli has been interdicted by the North Gauteng High Court from performing any duties as a police officer.

The order also prevents Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and acting police boss Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi from assigning him any functions.

Judge Ephraim Makgoba ruled that the fact Mdluli is currently under suspension had no effect on what rights group Freedom Under Law was asking for.

“On what basis should (Freedom Under Law) believe or trust that this time around, the present suspension will not also be lifted,” said Makgoba.

He ruled that it woukd be “unconscionable” for Mdluli to continue with his duties while he faces such serious allegations.

Lawyers for Mdluli and Mkhwanazi yesterday argued that the application by FUL for an urgent interdict was “academic” because Mdluli had already been suspended.

But Makgoba dismissed this argument, saying it “missed the point”.

“Freedom Under Law does not seek an order for suspension, instead it seeks an order to prevent (Mdluli) from working, with view to protecting the integrity of the investigations into him,” said Makgoba.

Makgoba said that the allegations against Mdluli were no ordinary “allegations of misconduct” and it was of considerable public interest that the matter be resolved.

“Murder, defeating the ends of justice, fraud and money laundering are serious criminal acts which go to the fabric of public order and security” he said.

Makgoba said that the factual allegations made against Mdluli by FUL “have not been specifically dealt with or denied” by the respondents.

The next part of FUL’s case will involve an applicationf for a review of four decisions made by authorities, including the dropping of murder and corruption charges against Mdluli, his reinstatement and the decision to stop the disciplinary hearing aginst him.

– City Press

An urgent investigation is needed into an allegation that the police’s Crime Intelligence (CI) division paid journalists to write a report discrediting other officers, the National Press Club said on Thursday.

The allegation emerged in an official document compiled by Colonel Kobus Roelofse of the SAPS anti-corruption task team and lodged in court papers by Freedom Under Law (FUL) on Tuesday.

FUL, represented by former World Bank director Dr Mamphela Ramphele, asked the High Court in Johannesburg to interdict former crime intelligence head Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli from performing any policing duties.

It also wants the decision to withdraw murder and fraud charges against him to be reviewed.

National Press Club chairman Yusuf Abramjee said allegations that journalists were paid was “very worrying” and “very serious”.

“Authorities need to get to the bottom of them as a matter of urgency. We need to get the facts and if there were any payments made, as alleged, criminal charges should follow.

“We also call on media houses suspected of being involved to launch their own investigations,” said Abramjee.

The Roelofse report said the investigating team was informed of the article in October last year by a witness. The witness told investigators he overheard Major General Solly Lazarus, CI finance head, say a newspaper article was to be written by journalists paid by CI.

The article would “take the focus away from them” and cast suspicion on those they perceived to be a threat.

It continues: “This newspaper article was published in the Sunday Times on 23 October 2011.”

Mdluli made representations to the National Prosecuting Authority earlier that month and used the article to cast suspicion on Hawks boss Lieutenant General Anwa Dramat and the investigating team.

He claimed there was a conspiracy to oust him. – Sapa

Charl du Plessis and Adriaan Basson, City Press

Johannesburg – Senior ANC MP Cecil Burgess has been dragged into the ongoing controversy around former crime intelligence head Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli.

Burgess, the chairperson of Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence, is named in an explosive report by Hawks detective Colonel Kobus Roelofse, addressed to the commander of the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) in March.

The ACTT is a joint corruption-busting body, consisting of the police, the Special Investigating Unit, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and other government entities.

Hard-hitting report 

The report, in which Roelofse details instances of interference in the Mdluli investigation, was filed in the North Gauteng High Court on Tuesday as part of an interdict application by rights group Freedom Under Law (FUL).

FUL is asking the court to interdict Mdluli from performing any policing duties and to review decisions to withdraw murder and fraud charges against the controversial top cop.

FUL’s Dr Mamphela Ramphele refers to Roelofse’s hard-hitting report in her founding affidavit before court.

In the report, Roelofse accuses Major General Solly Lazarus, finance head of the police’s crime intelligence division, of attempting to “influence” Burgess during the Mdluli investigation.

Roelofse states he had been informed that “Major General Solly Lazarus has approached the chairperson of the joint standing committee on intelligence, Cecil Burgess, on various occasions without notifying his acting divisional head of these visits.

National security

“Major General Lazarus is trying to convince Burgess that this investigation [into Mdluli and a crime intelligence “slush fund”] compromises national security,” said Roelofse.

He adds that investigators had seen a letter from Burgess to the acting head of crime intelligence, Major General Vele Matshatshe, requesting that senior crime intelligence official Major General Mark Hankel be removed from the team investigating Mdluli.

Hankel was appointed by police management to assist the Hawks investigators to get access to relevant crime intelligence documents. 

He also co-authored a secret report to the inspector general of intelligence (IGI), advocate Faith Radebe, outlining the allegations against Mdluli, Lazarus and others.

Burgess told City Press on Tuesday it would not be appropriate for him to comment until he had seen a copy of Roelofse’s report.

Final oversight

The committee headed by Burgess exercises final oversight over the crime intelligence unit.

Lazarus had previously faced internal disciplinary charges along with Mdluli for his alleged role in plundering the crime intelligence secret service account.

According to documents in the possession of City Press, the Hawks found that Lazarus appointed family members to crime intelligence, abused a police beach resort for private purposes and misused a crime intelligence travel agent to cover private expenses.

Lazarus controlled the secret “slush fund” central to the probe.

According to Roelofse’s report, an instruction was given by police management for all disciplinary charges against Mdluli and Lazarus to be dropped on February 29.

Interference

Roelofse also lists the following as instances of interference in the Mdluli probe:

» A crime intelligence source who provided information to the Hawks was taken to Lazarus’ house on two occasions and “confronted with the fact that he was working with the Hawks and they wanted to know what he had told them [the Hawks]”;

» Another employee of crime intelligence, close to Lazarus, also allegedly phoned an administrator of the secret service fund and told him “not to reflect the names of [certain people] on the invoices”. These names included members of Lazarus’ family;

» Lazarus had been informed of search and seizure warrants against him before they were executed. This was because the police’s Technical Support Unit was under his direct command;

» Senior Hawks officer Major General Shadrack Sibiya told Roelofse that he had been “taken to task” by “certain generals within the SAPS” for allowing the Mdluli probe to continue “beyond the scope of the murder investigation”;

» The auditor general’s office refused to take part in the investigation into Mdluli despite repeated requests by the investigating team and advice from Advocate Jay Govender, of the IGI’s office.

No mandate

Govender had advised the Hawks that the IGI had no mandate to conduct criminal investigations.

Roelofse said the instruction to halt the investigation into Mdluli was given by Hawks boss Lieutenant General Anwa Dramat on February 13, who in turn was told to do so by acting police chief Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

In his report Roelofse said: “It is submitted that the level of interference with respect to this investigation has already reached a level which necessitates the use of a complaint mechanism.”

He also said the report could “be converted into an affidavit as the contents herein are true and correct”. 

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Former police crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli has denied involvement in murder and fraud, according to a report on Friday.

In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Mdluli said the allegations derived from a “racist” plot by white Western Cape policemen who were investigating him.

The journalists who had been writing “bad things” about him were also all white.

“I have never been involved in a murder… For the 33 years I have been in the police, I have never pulled the trigger and killed a person in my life.”

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced on Wednesday that Mdluli would be moved from his position as head of crime intelligence. His new position would be determined by acting national commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, Mthethwa told the National Assembly during debate on his budget vote.

Mthethwa said he had noted the “recent utterances, public discussions, and at times misrepresentation and misunderstanding” of SAPS processes by some in society, particularly in relation to the crucial crime intelligence division.

Mdluli is the subject of several investigations.

There is an ongoing inquest into his alleged involvement in murdering a man in 1999 with whom he shared a lover.

He is also alleged to have abused state money, and given jobs to his relatives. – Sapa

Chantall Presence | 10 May 2012CAPE TOWN – State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele on Thursday said the Richard Mdluli saga was not a national security concern. 

Cwele was briefing journalists on his budget vote.

Mdluli was shifted from his position as Police Crime Intelligence head on Wednesday.

Cwele said he was consulted before Mdluli was shifted to another department.

Cwele would not directly address the allegations against the crime intelligence head saying the inspector-general should be given space to complete her probe.

“We will assess the situation after we’ve received information from those reports. We will then determine whether this matter becomes a national security concern on not.”

The minister said he remained squarely opposed to the politicising of intelligence matters.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa made it clear that Mdluli’s removal had nothing to do with the murder and mismanagement of funds allegations against him.

Mdluli allegedly ordered for seven of his relatives to be employed into the crime intelligence unit and given luxury cars.

On Sunday, the City Press reported that Mdluli had written to President Jacob Zuma offering to “assist the president to succeed next year” following his suspension in 2011.

A month later, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) dropped all the charges against him and he was reinstated.

The Presidency has maintained it never interfered with the case.

Mthethwa said Mdluli was being moved to another department following his complaints that he was being targeted in crime intelligence.

On Wednesday, the Institute for Security Studies warned that the Mdluli saga was affecting the South African Police Service morale.

(Edited by Lindiwe Mlandu) 

Gauteng police commissioner Mzwandile Petros said he had his hands too full to be part of a conspiracy to oust crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli.

“There is too much crime in Gauteng. When you get involved in a conspiracy, you need time… I have my hands full,” Lieutenant-General Petros told the National Press Club in Pretoria on Wednesday.

“I will leave it at that.”

Neither would he comment on Mdluli’s reinstatement, saying he could not express his own opinions while “in uniform”.

Mdluli had reportedly claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy to have him removed from office.

According to website IOL, in a letter Mdluli wrote to President Jacob Zuma, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, he claimed he was the victim of conspiracies by police top brass who wanted him out because he was seen to be a “Zuma man”.

He reportedly named suspended national police commissioner Bheki Cele, Petros, head of crime detection Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya and Hawks head Lieutenant-General Anwa Dramat as the officers who had conspired to have him removed.

According to reports by City Press, accusations against Mdluli include defrauding crime intelligence to buy two new BMWs for himself and his wife, appointing several family members as secret agents, and the unauthorised use of safe houses for his personal benefit.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela last week declined probing allegations of abuse of state funds against Mdluli, saying the Inspector General of Intelligence was looking into the matter.

Mdluli had faced fraud and corruption charges, as well as murder charges. The criminal charges relating to his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend Oupa Ramogibe’s 1999 murder were recently withdrawn against Mdluli, court orderly Samuel Dlomo, Colonel Nkosana Sebastian Ximba, and Lieutenant-Colonel Mtunzi-Omhle Mthembeni Mtunzi. He faces an inquest for that now.

The fraud and corruption charges, which City Press reported were related to improper use of crime intelligence money, were also dropped.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s Glynnis Breytenbach, who was working on the Mdluli case, has been suspended. She was regional head of the NPA in Gauteng’s specialised commercial crime unit.

The NPA however said there was no link between her suspension and the Mdluli matter.

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