Phahlane appointee charged with defeating ends of justice

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s (Ipid’s) investigation of former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane has shifted as one of his allies in the provincial criminal intelligence units awaits her day in court over claims she had interfered with the watchdog’s probe.

Free State crime intelligence head Agnes Makhele, a Phahlane appointee, will appear in court in February on charges of defeating the ends of justice in relation to the Ipid investigation of Phahlane.

Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini said the watchdog would comment on the Makhele and Phahlane matter once the court process had run its course. “We don’t discuss ongoing investigations. If we need to give an update we will, but at this stage, there is not much to say.”

Phahlane could not be reached for comment. Phahlane had a brief but troubled stint as the country’s acting top policeman following the suspension of Riah Phiyega after the release of the Farlam commission of inquiry report on events that unfolded in Marikana in 2012, when police shot dead protesting miners.

The national police commissioner job is crucial to ensuring that there is a coherent crimefighting strategy, but a string of officials have left the position under a cloud.

The Hawks unit, another division of the police, has been without a permanent head since Berning Ntlemeza left in disgrace, while crime intelligence has an acting appointee.

Career policeman Gen Khehla Sitole was appointed national police commissioner in November 2017 and is expected to give Parliament an update on festive season crime-fighting initiatives in the first week of February. However, the chairman of Parliament’s police committee, Francois Beukman, said it was keen to get a handle on what was being done to fill the important vacancies. Its members would question Sitole about this issue and others.

“We have scheduled Thursday, February 1, [when] we will get the [police’s] ... turnaround strategy update,” said Beukman.

“Then we will have the commissioner give us feedback on the festive season police programmes.”

The committee also wanted to know when Police Minister Fikile Mbalula would appoint a permanent head to the Directorate for Priority Criminal Investigation, also known as the Hawks. Yolisa Matakata has served as the acting head since September 2017.

Beukman said that the committee would also have to work on a committee bill to amend the Ipid act in compliance with the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the powers that the police minister had in relation to the suspension of the watchdog’s executive director.

Police spokesman Vuyo Mhaga said amendments to the Ipid act were being handled by Parliament and the police had made the input it deemed necessary on the matter. The South African Police Service would shed light on the position of the Hawks head soon.

“[On] the issue of the permanent head of the Hawks, we will call the media in a week or so to update the country on the developments on that front. Regarding the Ipid act amendments, we have to still receive an update on how far it is at Parliament,” said Mhaga.