DA to PAIA Sitole’s ‘Golden Handshake’

28 February 2022

Note to Editors: Please find an attached soundbite by Andrew Whitfield MP

The DA has today submitted a PAIA application to obtain the details of General Kehla Sitole’s departure as national police commissioner by “mutual agreement” with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The public deserve to know the details of this golden handshake and the reasons why it was necessary.

In a damning judgement in January 2021, Gauteng High Court Judge Norman Davis found that Sitole had breached his duty as top cop regarding the procurement of the spy grabber technology prior to the ANC’s 2017 Nasrec conference. Eight months after the judgement in September 2021 the President served Sitole with a notice of intention to suspend. To date there has been no inquiry and no further action in respect of that notice.

If the President was truly acting in the best interests of the country he would have followed the very disciplinary process he initiated to suspend Sitole and ultimately terminate his contract. Aside from being the right thing to do, it would have come at no additional cost to the tax payer and would have laid bare whether Sitole did in fact fail to perform his duties.

Instead Sitole has left with a golden handshake at the tax payers’ expense because he seems to have started rattling the cages of the ANC. Sitole recently accused the former Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula, of instructing him to procure the spy grabber technology prior to the ANC’s conference. Now Sitole is gone.

It is in the interests of the country to know why Sitole was given a golden handshake and what all of the details are relating to this deal. This cannot be swept under the carpet.

The DA will champion the fight for transparency on this matter so that we can rebuild the South African Police Service (SAPS) from a foundation of trust and not hidden agendas.

Issued by Andrew Whitfield, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 28 February 2022