Police Chairperson must release dossier into crime intelligence operative linked to OR Tambo heist

3 July 2017

Recent reports confirm that a crime intelligence operative, Captain Morris “KGB” Tshabalala, is a suspect in the R200 million heist that occurred at OR Tambo International Airport almost four months ago.

A senior crime intelligence officer sent this information in a confidential dossier to Parliament’s Police Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Francois Beukman, on 25 March. It is unacceptable that over three months later, the dossier is yet to be released to members of the Committee.

The DA will therefore write to Mr Beukman urging him to immediately distribute the dossier and discuss it with members of the Committee at the start of the next Parliamentary term. The Committee cannot simply sit on these damning allegations which have now become public and Mr Beukman needs to demonstrate to the members and by extension, the public, that we are performing our constitutionally mandated role of oversight.

The allegations that Tshabalala was sentenced to prison for two years and earned a salary for the duration of his prison sentence are serious and should have been brought to our attention as soon as the Chairperson was made aware of this.

Worse yet, there are reports that the crime intelligence leadership are attempting to cover up for Tshabalala by serving him with a section 252A notice which is needed by operatives to show that an undercover operation was approved and that gives immunity from being arrested. The DA will not stand by while a suspected criminal’s actions are being swept under the rug.

It was just last week that a reply to a DA Parliamentary Question revealed that suspended Head of Crime Intelligence, Richard Mdluli, raked in about R8.3 million whilst his suspension has dragged on for over six years. In light of ongoing dysfunction in the Crime Intelligence Division and the deepening crisis in that environment, the release of the dossier to the whole Police Portfolio Committee must be expedited.

Crime intelligence leadership must be fit and proper. The release of the dossier to the Police Portfolio Committee is a step in the right direction to ensuring that those who have been tasked with keeping South Africans safe are not corrupt in any way.

Issued by Zakhele Mbhele, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 3 July 2017