File Photo of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa. Photo: Sizwe Ndingane File Photo of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa. Photo: Sizwe Ndingane
Suspended national police commissioner General Bheki Cele’s troubles got worse on Wednesday after Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced he was investigating the costly dismissal of 19 top cops and the appointment of 20 others during Cele’s tenure.
Plans were afoot to limit the police commissioner’s powers to sign off on special dismissals, which have cost R31 million over the past 24 months, Mthethwa said.
This is after an outcry from MPs during briefings with the SAPS top brass, led by Cele, in September, during which details emerged of a string of dismissals with hefty pension pay-outs signed off by him.
Mthethwa told the National Assembly committee on police on Wednesday the dismissals on Cele’s watch, under Section 35, were being investigated. Section 35 allows for an official to be dismissed to “promote efficiency or economy in the service”, but is perceived by many as a fig leaf for problematic cops to receive golden handshakes.
Cele had approved the dismissal of 19 top officers under Section 35.
Deputy police commissioner and Hawks boss Anwa Dramat had said four of the 19 were under investigation.
After the meeting Mthethwa said he had only been made aware of the number of officials dismissed under Section 35, despite criminal investigations having been instituted against some of them, when the information was made public during the SAPS hearings at Parliament.
He had asked Cele to provide him with more details, but he had failed to do so.
Mthethwa laid the blame for the apparent abuse of Section 35 squarely at the suspended commissioner’s door, saying the Police Act held Cele, as the director-general of the department, solely accountable.
The constitution gave Cele more powers than ordinary directors-general, which meant he could make more independent decisions.
While Mthethwa said the intention was not to change the constitution, a white paper detailing proposed amendments to the Police Act would attempt to tighten controls and allow for more oversight by the ministry over the affairs of the SAPS, especially regarding sections 35 and 45, which related to the promotion of officers.
It emerged during the September hearings with the SAPS bosses that, since April last year, Cele had filled 20 posts which were advertised but then withdrawn. They included strategic appointments such as chief operations officer, executive legal officer, divisional (national) commissioners, provincial commissioners and provincial crime intelligence heads.
The Section 45 appointments were also under investigation, Mthethwa said. “(They) would go out and advertise and then appoint somebody... Why not just go straight and appoint somebody in the police?”
The white paper would be presented to the cabinet early next year. The department’s legal advisers were assessing what measures could be put in place to curb the exploitation of these sections.
Mthethwa has temporarily pulled the plug on golden handshakes, having stripped Cele of the power to sign off on any special dismissals without his approval.
Cele was suspended on full pay towards the end of October, and is awaiting a board of inquiry into allegations of misconduct relating to the aborted R1.7 billion police headquarters leasing deal. - Political Bureau