Mdluli investigator ‘still faces the legacy’ of dropping case

Col Kobus Roelofse, a Hawks investigator in the fraud and corruption case against former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, says he still faces the legacy of Lawrence Mrwebi’s decision to drop charges against Mdluli.

Roelofse, now working in the anticorruption task team, told the commission of inquiry into the fitness of Mrwebi and Nomgcobo Jiba to hold office, that Mrwebi’s decision in 2011 still affected his investigation in 2019. Roelofse said there were people in the South African Police Service who still believed that he unlawfully obtained documents, as alleged by Mrwebi.

He said that hampered the process of getting documents declassified and he was still struggling to persuade people the matter should be on the roll.

Mrwebi, who headed the specialised crime unit, and Jiba, deputy national director of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), are on suspension.

Mrwebi withdrew charges of fraud, corruption and moneylaundering against Mdluli in December 2011, after saying the police did not have the jurisdiction to investigate and that responsibility lay with the intelligence inspector-general.

Roelofse said Mrwebi was told it did not form part of the inspector-general of intelligence’s work. Mrwebi was then told that the auditor-general had investigated the matter and it was closed. Roelofse said the only inference he could make was that the matter was closed.

He insisted that prosecution of the initial charges against Mdluli did not need any declassification of documents.

Mrwebi and Jiba were struck off the roll of advocates for the way they dealt with charges against Mdluli, but the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned this in 2018. The Constitutional Court will in March hear the General Council of the Bar’s application for leave to appeal.

Mdluli was arrested and charged after it was alleged he and Col Hein Barnard, crime intelligence procurement head, benefited unlawfully from the acquisition of state vehicles.

Mrwebi now says he never meant to close the investigation and further investigation is needed before a decision is taken on whether the matter can be put on the roll again

The inquiry has heard testimony that Mrwebi did not have the power to withdraw the charges. Advocate Rathaga Ramawele put it to Roelofse in cross-examination that he did not have anything good to say about Mrwebi, to which Roelofse replied that he did “not know the man” and that it was not a question about saying anything good about Mrwebi or not.

He said Mrwebi may have done a lot of good in other cases, but he was referring to how he dealt with Mdluli’s prosecution.