Nhleko messes up again
POLICE MINISTER IN TROUBLE WITH PARLIAMENT FOR BUNGLING APPOINTMENT OF HAWKS BOSS
THE fate of Hawks head Berning Ntlemeza, the man at the centre of the investigation into Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, now rests in the hands of parliament or could end up in court.
This is after Police Minister Nathi Nhleko yesterday conceded to bungling the top cop’s appointment and, in the process, violating the law – again.
The SA Police Service Act requires that parliament be notified in writing of the appointment of the head of the Hawks within 14 days.
Nhleko wrote to parliament last week – a full year after Ntlemeza was appointed, requesting a condonation for the late notification.
If parliament does not condone the request, Nhleko will have been in contravention of the statute.
Yesterday, members of the opposition in the police portfolio committee grilled Nhleko about the issue, which he called an “oversight”.
The DA’s Zak Mbhele said the party was going to seek a legal opinion, but it was his view that there were technical grounds to argue that “the appointment process was procedurally flawed or irregular because not all the boxes were ticked”.
Mbhele said the issue “reinforces the image of Nhleko as a man who has fallen foul of the law several times over the past year and a half”.
The Constitutional Court recently found Nhleko’s suspension of police watchdog Ipid head Robert McBride’s suspension was invalid.
Stellenbosch University constitutional law expert Professor Geo Quinot, however, said he did not believe that the notification period would be enough to challenge an appointment.
He said the oversight could have implications for the police minister, who had failed to meet the time frame, rather than Ntlemeza.
Ntlemeza’s appointment last year was controversial, with lobby groups the Helen Suzman Foundation and Freedom Under Law approaching the courts in a bid to keep him out of the post.
Ntlemeza was also found by Judge Elias Matojane in an earlier high court judgment to lack “integrity and honour” and to have lied under oath.
Ntlemeza was recently condemned by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantshe, who said the top cop sought to embarrass Gordhan with his investigation into the socalled rogue unit at the SA Revenue Services.
Nhleko - who was repremanded by president Jacob Zuma for his role in the Nkandla debacle said he took full responsibility for the error in the appointment of Ntlemeza.
But he argued that Ntlemeza’s appointment remained valid because the law only required that SAPS notify parliament of the appointment, not seek its approval. He said all the other elements of the appointment had been above board.
Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald said the matter should be debated in parliament, where he would call for the matter not to be condoned.