Zuma announces SA’s new top cop
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma yesterday announced the appointment of Khehla John Sithole as South Africa’s new national police commissioner.
“Born in Standerton in Mpumalanga, Sitole brings a wealth of operational as well as management experience to the SAPS. He has grown through the ranks of the police, having joined the service as a constable until his promotion as a lieutenant-general in 2011,” Zuma’s office said in a statement.
According to the statement from the Presidency, Sitole joined the police as a student constable in 1986 and in that same year was promoted to sergeant. He came up through the ranks, getting a promotion every two years until becoming a major in 1992.
Sithole became a lieutenantcolonel in 1995, a director in the police service in 1996 and served as assistant police commissioner in three provinces from 2000 until 2010.
In 2013, former national police commissioner Riah Phiyega appointed Sithole as deputy national commissioner responsible for police.
He moved to the post of divisional commissioner responsible for protection and security services last year.
The president also extended his appreciation to LieutenantGeneral Lesetja Mothiba, who has been acting as the national commissioner after his predecessor Khomotso Phahlane was suspended.
Phahlane was appointed to replace Phiyega, another commissioner who was suspended for her role in the deaths of 34 miners at Marikana in North West in 2012 in the biggest loss of life in a single police operation in democratic South Africa.
Phiyega was not fired. Instead, her contract ran out earlier this year. – ANA