Minister sets lawyers on Hawks ‘cover-up’

POLICE Minister Nathi Nhleko this week appointed a top legal firm to probe a possible cover-up by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) in its investigation involving Hawks boss Lieutenant General Anwa Dramat.

Nhleko appointed Werksmans Attorneys after the Sunday Times last week exposed that the Ipid provincial head in Limpopo, Innocent Khuba, had submitted two contradictory reports on the illegal rendition of Zimbabwean nationals in 2010.

In his first report, on January 22 2014, Khuba recommended that Dra- mat, Gauteng Hawks chief MajorGeneral Shadrack Sibiya, Lieutenant Colonel Leslie “Cowboy” Maluleke and others “be charged criminally for kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice”.

But on March 18 2014, just 15 days after Robert McBride became the new Ipid boss, Khuba submitted a report exonerating Dramat and Sibiya.

Nhleko’s spokesman, Musa Zondi, said yesterday that the minister had appointed the law firm to investigate why “there are two reports with different conclusions arising from what appear to be the same facts”.

“It means he wants to get to the bottom of this and this is not indicative of how he views Ipid. Ipid is an important body that holds police to account and investigates abuses. He wants the facts and only the facts,” Zondi said.

In the terms of reference to Werksmans, seen by the Sunday Times, the minister asks the firm to probe “under what circumstances was the original altered or how the second report came about with both reports signed by Khuba”.

He also wants to know “whether there is prima facie evidence of misconduct and criminal liability by Dramat, Sibiya and other officers mentioned in the original report”.

Nhleko gave Werksmans two weeks to conclude the investigation, although an extension would be granted on request.

The Ipid investigation was launched after a 2011 Sunday Times exposé detailing how five Zimbabwean nationals, suspected of killing a police officer in their home country, were allegedly abducted and illegally deported by a team led by Maluleke.

Once they were handed over to the Zimbabwean authorities, the five were tortured. Two were killed and one disappeared without trace.

Nhleko suspended Dramat in December but a court ruled that his suspension was unlawful. Sibiya is also fighting suspension. On Friday, McBride wrote to the police portfolio committee asking for a special sitting. He said there was speculation about the two reports and Ipid’s U-turn, and he wanted to brief the committee on the facts.