Suspended commissioner awaits her fate
DURBAN: KwaZulu-Natal’s suspended provincial police commissioner will have to wait another two weeks before she finds out if she can return to work.
Judge Nkosinathi Chilli yesterday adjourned the Durban High Court application seeking leave to appeal his earlier ruling that overturned Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane’s suspension of provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Betty Ngobeni.
He is set to hand down his decision on December 13 on whether Phahlane can appeal his earlier judgment.
Ngobeni was suspended in May.
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane also gave Ngobeni notice that he intended establishing a board of inquiry to investigate allegations of misconduct and her fitness to hold office.
Judge Chilli, in his initial judgment, had ruled that Phahlane did not have the required authority to take such action, and that he needed the support of the police minister and the provincial executive council.
However, advocate Reghana Tulk argued in court yesterday that Phahlane did not need the authority of the provincial executive.
“The provincial commissioner is directly accountable to the national commissioner. The impact of this (Chilli’s judgment) makes the provincial commissioner accountable to the provincial executive,” she said.
Tulk said this issue was so significant that it required the attention of a higher court.
“Its impact is important. This case is important because it defines the power of the national commissioner.”
Ngobeni has been in the spotlight over allegations that businessman Thoshan Panday paid for her husband’s lavish birthday party. She also faces allegations that she ordered the head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal to stop investigating Panday in connection with a R60 million police accommodation tender.
Ngobeni has claimed that she paid Panday back and denies interfering with the investigation against the businessman, that was led by KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Major-General Johan Booysen.