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Officer was suspended following allegations that Ntlemeza failed to act on a damning report

One of the most powerful policemen in the country was appointed despite apparently unresolved criminal allegations made against him — and now his colleagues are allegedly waging a vendetta against the young officer who blew the whistle on him.

Lieutenant General Mthandazo Ntlemeza was appointed as the permanent head of the Hawks, South Africa’s priority crime-combating unit, in mid-September, despite a seemingly unresolved case opened against him by one of his former junior officers, Lieutenant Boitumelo Ramahlaha.

Ntlemeza was selected by a panel chaired by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, despite a finding by Pretoria high court Judge Elias Matojane in an unrelated case that Ntlemeza was “biased and dishonest … lacks integrity and honour, and made false statements under oath”.

Nhleko has refused to release the CVs of the competing candidates. A senior police source told amaBhungane there were other applicants who were better qualified.

The Ramahlaha case, which dates back to the time when Ntlemeza was deputy provincial commissioner for Limpopo, was being investigated by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).

Ramahlaha claimed Ntlemeza had failed to act on a report sent to him by Ramahlaha that one of his other officers was defrauding the police by making false travel claims. Ramahlaha alleged Ntlemeza protected the officer because the man was dating Ntlemeza’s daughter.

The Ramahlaha case appears to have fed directly into the battle for control of Ipid and of the Hawks, which saw the suspension of Ntelemeza’s predecessor, Anwa Dramat, in December last year, and that of Ipid director Robert McBride, who was suspended in March.

In January, amaBhungane reported that Ramahlaha had delivered a letter setting out his allegations against Ntlemeza to Nhleko’s chief of staff on December 13 last year, about 10 days before Ntlemeza was appointed to act in Dramat’s place. Ramahlaha called on Nhleko to investigate the allegations.

The young policeman followed this up by contacting the private investigator, Paul O’Sullivan, and delivering an affidavit setting out his claims in more detail.

AmaBhungane understands the affidavit was brought to the personal attention of McBride and an Ipid case was opened in early 2015, which potentially implicated Ntlemeza in defeating the ends of justice.

In the affidavit, Ramahlaha also drew attention to an apparently unresolved case involving Ntlemeza’s colleague, Brigadier HC Morakaladi.

A charge was laid against Morakaladi, the South African Police Service provincial head of personnel management, in 2004 by another senior officer, Brigadier Phillip Morkel, who has since retired. The case had to do with allegations that Morakaladi had abused her position over recruitment in the South African Police Service (SAPS). Ramahlaha alleged, without providing any evidence, that Morakaladi had been protected by Ntlemeza. He also noted that the investigation docket had mysteriously gone missing after