Mbalula slams allegations he usurped an SAPS senior
PRETORIA: Police Minister Fikile Mbalula yesterday lambasted recent media reports that he was usurping the authority of an SAPS senior.
He was referring to acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba, and having certain police officers, particularly from the crime intelligence unit, report directly to him.
Mbalula said he had certain police officers reporting directly to him and that there was nothing untoward about that arrangement as he is a “hands-on minister”.
“As minister, the public expects me to know if there is domestic terrorism, or any serious threats to the state and public safety. I must know of a potential Marikana before it happens and that call should come from police,” Mbalula told journalists in Pretoria.
The minister, however, said there was an ongoing campaign to defame him. He said certain members within South Africa’s security apparatus were feeding malicious information to certain journalists as part of political agendas.
“There is a campaign by certain individuals to sidetrack and besmirch me in all manner possible, including shoddy journalistic performance with a tinge of sensationalism. Journalists are urged to be careful of information pedlars within the security environment and you should always ask why is secret information being leaked.
“It is disappointing to your profession when journalists are openly being used as tools by dark and rogue forces within the police, who often are busy with political agendas.”
The minister said there was a lot of “rogueness” going on at the SAPS’s crime intelligence unit.
“Today I am told there is classified information that is in the hands of journalists. That tells you that we are dealing with rogueness.
“That is what I reminded you when I went to intervene at crime intelligence directed by, among others, Parliament, that crime intelligence had become a law unto itself, and that there is a lot of rogueness going on there. I said to you, if you forgot because some of us have the memory of a rat, we forget quite quickly.
“I said I was going to end the picnic going on there (at crime intelligence) where things are not being directed and in accordance with the law.”
Mbalula said the parliamentary portfolio committee on police had expressed concerns over instability and crises in top police management. – ANA