Police crime intelligence boss in the dock on fraud and corruption charges

The case against the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Crime Intelligence Unit’s National Commissioner, Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, has been postponed by the Pretoria Regional Court until next week Friday.

This comes after Khumalo and six co-accused appeared in the dock on Wednesday, facing fraud and corruption charges.

Khumalo and five other high-ranking officials were arrested in June for allegedly appointing a civilian without the necessary training or knowledge of policing.

These officials include Major General Philani Lushaba, Major General Josias Lekalakala, Brigadier Phindile Ncube, Major General Sydney Gabela, and Major General Nozipho Madondo.

Lushaba is the Crime Intelligence CFO, Ncube is the head of vetting, and Lekalakala is the head of Gauteng Crime Intelligence. Madondo works in the Crime Intelligence analysis centre, while Gabela works in technology services.  

Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, the appointee, also appeared alongside the six police officials on Wednesday.

The National Prosecuting Authority’s Independent Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) led the prosecution against the seven accused.

However, the court postponed the case until 22 August, after which Khumalo and his co-accused will again appear before the court on 8 September for a trial date to be set.

News24 reports that after having the docket disclosed on Wednesday, Khumalo, Lekalakala, Mokwele, and Madondo intend to apply to amend their bail conditions.

Part of the application will be to remove the condition that they may not enter any Crime Intelligence office in the country.

Khumalo’s advocate, Abre Loubser, said the Crime Intelligence boss was doing so so that he could return to work. 

However, the court heard that this would be opposed, with reports that the State’s rationale was that the offices were a crime scene, the publication reported.

Mokwele has been charged with fraud relating to allegedly misleading information in her curriculum vitae submission and corruption after she accepted the job, which the IDAC argued was undue gratification.

Khumalo and the rest of the accused face fraud and corruption charges for Mokwele’s appointment.

After the seven were arrested, Jan de Villiers, the chair of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, requested that the police minister audit ghost workers within SAPS.

Ghost workers are employees who draw salaries and benefits but do not exist, which De Villiers said is not isolated within government.

“It takes sophisticated collusion to create and maintain these ghost-worker employees, who operate like organised criminal syndicates embedded in our government systems,” de Villiers said.

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, De Villiers said that a Department of Public Service Presentation had demonstrated that it takes at least three people to load a ghost onto the system.

De Villiers added that it takes even more to ensure the ghost remains on the system.

The committee chair referred to the Secret Services account, a classified budget used for covert operations and to pay informants.

He argued that there is reason for concern that taxpayer funds may have been used to fund fabricated operatives or fake intelligence activity.

“It is reasonable to expect similar malpractice in payroll management,” De Villiers said.

“The possibility of irregular appointments, inflated headcounts, and unvetted recruits of ‘ghost’ employees is high.”