ANC opposes appointment of Jhb’s new police chief

THE ANC in Johannesburg will challenge the appointment of the metro’s new chief of police‚ David Tembe‚ “using all available avenues”‚ as the party believes he is not the most suitable person for the job.

ANC Johannesburg spokesman Jolidee Matongo said the opposition party would approach the MEC for cooperative governance in Gauteng‚ as well as the minister of public service and administration to look into the matter.

“We have also given our legal team all the required documentation to start a process to have this appointment set aside‚” Matongo said.

The ANC took issue with Tembe initially being scored fifth out of the possible candidates interviewed for the position in a report tabled to council in a special council meeting in October last year.

“After discussions at this meeting, the mayor [Herman Mashaba] withdrew the report and the matter was sent back to the executive for further consideration. Following the October 19 council meeting, there was no new set of interviews for the chief of police. Instead, a new report on the appointment was presented to council on November 29. In this new report, Tembe was recommended for appointment,” Matongo said yesterday.

Mashaba said that Tembe had started his duties as chief of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) on January 2.

Mashaba said Tembe’s public safety career began in 1981 as a paramedic with the Johannesburg Emergency Services. He was appointed as its acting head in 2002‚ and joined the JMPD in 2003.

Tembe was appointed national chief of traffic at the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) in 2011 until he resigned to pursue a career as a consultant in law enforcement in 2013‚ Mashaba said.

According to the ANC statement‚ the panel justified the recommendation by saying: “The reason for recommending the fifth candidate is that this is a crucial position and the city prefers the candidate being able to take up the position immediately. The advantage of this candidate is that he meets the requirement of being a registered member of the municipal police service.

“The first four candidates are unfortunately not registered members of a municipal police service and the process of ensuring the necessary training and registration would take months to conclude.”

“This recommendation by the panel‚ if it indeed came from the panel‚ clearly demonstrates Tembe is not the most suitable candidate to be appointed,” Matongo said. — DDC