Innocent spills beans

Limpopo head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) Innocent Khuba yesterday told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that former Hawks head Berning Ntlemeza told him that “political principals” wanted him to head the organisation.

Khuba told the chairperson of the commission, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, that the position of executive director of Ipid was vacant at the time Ntlemeza mentioned this.

Koekie Mbeki was acting in the position following Francois Beukman’s resignation in 2012.

However, during that period, Mbeki was no longer attending work because “she had taken an offer somewhere but she continued performing the work of Ipid”, Khuba said.

Khuba told the commission that when Ntlemeza told him about his appointment as executive director of Ipid, he was happy about this because he thought he was going to work with somebody he knew after having worked with him at provincial level.

“On that particular day, he said he wanted to tell me that the political principals had changed their minds and he would not be joining Ipid, he would be joining the Hawks.

“He never mentioned the word ‘application’. He talked about political principals and that they wanted him to head Ipid,” Khuba told Zondo, adding that even the advertisement for the post was not mentioned during their conversation.

Khuba said that at some stage, Ntlemeza enquired about the progress he was making in finalising a report following his probe into the illegal rendition of Zimbabweans in 2010, because the delay in that report was holding up his appointment to head the Hawks.

“I found it very, very strange,” Khuba said, adding that he did not pay much attention to this, although it stayed on his mind.