Johannesburg – The powers of Police Minister Bheki Cele have come under the spotlight after he directed SAPS national commissioner Khehla Sitole to stop suspensions and investigations into senior cops implicated in allegations of abuse of the slush fund to buy personal protective equipment (PPE).
Last month, Sunday World reported that the office of the inspector-general, Setlhomamaru Dintwe, was investigating the dodgy procurement of PPE by crime intelligence, which occurred a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the national state of disaster over the COVID-19 pandemic.
It has emerged that Cele wrote to Sitole last week Tuesday instructing him to place all investigations and intended suspensions related to the PPE saga in abeyance. Cele said in terms of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act, Dintwe was supposed to submit the report to him as the minister responsible for the service.
Dintwe had said he received reports on a Durban company that was irregularly paid close to R1-million for PPE within a short period of a week.
This week, Sitole suspended five senior cops including intelligence planning and monitoring head Brigadier Deon Lombard and head of covert intelligence collection Josias Lekalakala, among others, in connection with the PPE mess.
It is understood that Sitole stood his ground when directed by Cele to stop the suspensions, saying that the Public Finance Management Act enjoined him to act on allegations of financial misconduct.
Sources said Sitole told Cele that he had checked the facts and the law on the matter and found that it was not within his powers to hold the suspensions in abeyance.
In terms of chapter 11 of the constitution, the president as head of the national executive appoints the national commissioner, who exercises control and manages the police service in accordance with national policing policy and the directions of a cabinet member responsible. DA MP Dianne Kohler Bernard said she had taken legal advice on the instruction to Sitole.
“Cele is the political head of the division. He has proven over and over again that he is unable to distance himself from SAPS operational matters and continues to order the national police commissioner to do his political bidding,” said Kohler, who is also a member of parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence.
She added the investigation must take its course.
Cele’spokesperson Lirandzu Themba and SAPS spokesperson Vish Naidoo had not responded to requests for comment.
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