COSATU concerned at corruption allegations
The Congress of South African Trade Unions is extremely concerned at the latest allegations of corruption, tender manipulation, plundering of government funds and political interference in investigations and prosecutions.
The Sunday Independent, 15 April 2012, reported on allegations that a massive R10 billion tender to dispense social grants was manipulated to ensure that it was awarded to one company, Cash Paymaster Services, and that three government officials who allegedly illegally influenced the tenders received R500 000 each (see here).
City Press, 15 April 2012, produced written evidence to support its earlier allegations that Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa used R195 581, 45 of public money, from a secret slush fund run by the Crime Intelligence Unit, to pay for the upgrading of his private residence in KwaZulu-Natal.
They allege that the Crime Intelligence Unit has also used these funds to buy a holiday resort on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast for the exclusive use of the unit's top officers and to rent a townhouse at Gordon's Bay, near Cape Town for crime intelligence unit head Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli.
City Press points out that Nathi Mthethwa was instrumental in suspending a Hawks investigation into this slush fund and the lifting of Mdluli's suspension, following earlier serious allegations.
He is the subject of yet more serious charges in City Press, 15 April 2012, based on statements to Hawks investigators and a secret report to acting police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
The newspaper reported that seven of Mdluli's relatives had been appointed as crime intelligence unit agents. According to sworn statements, Mdluli had given orders that both his current wife and former wife, a daughter, a son and two in-laws be appointed as secret agents to his unit, all paid for from the same slush fund. They had no police experience.
Another City Press article contains even more serious allegations - that a witness to the murder of Oupa Ramokgibe on 17 February 1999 - allegedly committed by Mdluli and fellow policemen Nkosana Ximba, Samuel Dhlomo and Omhle Mtunzi - was brutally raped by two men and that Ramokgibe's mother received a threatening phone call.
When the inquest into the death of Ramokgibe opened in Boksburg Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, 10 April 2012, a 67-page statement by lead investigator Kobus Roelofse, detailed much circumstantial evidence gathered by the state, from at least 39 witness statements, affidavits and interviews.
It revealed that most of the incidents linked to the Ramogibe murder were not recorded and that specific relevant registers, books and case-registers were missing".
The investigator's statement also mentioned a series of extraordinary promotions given to Ximba, Dhlomo and Mtunzi. Ximba became a constable after Mdluli recommended him in March 1999. In 2008, he was transferred to crime intelligence and in March 2010 promoted from constable to colonel - a huge leap.
Mtunzi was transferred to the Vosloorus detective branch in 1986, then in August 1998 Mdluli allegedly promoted him to inspector and in March 2010 to superintendent - despite a previous conviction for fraud and defeating the ends of justice. Dhlomo was transferred in 1994 to the Vosloorus detective branch and by July 1999 he had been promoted to the rank of inspector.
Everyone is innocent until proved guilty, but these charges are so serious that they cannot be swept under the carpet. COSATU demands a comprehensive, independent investigation into all these allegations and all the surrounding circumstances.
COSATU welcomes Comrade Mthethwa's decision to refer the original City Press allegations against him to the Public Protector and hopes that he will refer the new evidence to her as well and that she will investigate them fully.
Corruption and theft of public funds is a malignant cancer rotting away our social and political cohesion. The vast majority of South Africans, in both the public and private sectors, are honest and conscientious. That makes it even more crucial to weed out the corrupt, rotten minority, who have such a deadly effect on our society, bring them before the courts and put them behind bars.
Statement issued by Patrick Craven, COSATU national spokesperson, April 16 2012
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
