Lt-Gen Zuma is not a criminal - Phahlane

Johannesburg - There were no pending criminal charges against newly appointed Mpumalanga police commissioner Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma, national police commissioner Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane said on Monday.

Phahlane announced Zuma's appointment at a press briefing in Pretoria where other senior police appointments were made. 

"Regarding General Zuma, I thought, in this country, we subscribe to the notion of innocent until proven guilty," said Phahlane.

It was alleged that in December of 2008, Zuma had ignored traffic officials’ instructions to stop, ran away and hid in a house where he allegedly stayed in a bathroom for a long time to avoid being breathalysed.

He was charged with drunken driving, attempting to escape from custody, and defeating the ends of justice.

Phahlane said that matter had been before the courts, witnesses were called and the matter was concluded. 

"At the end of the trial... General Zuma was not found guilty of any of the charges against him," said Phahlane. 

Zuma was then faced with another criminal matter when he reportedly lost his firearm. 

"There was a case before a court in Pietermaritzburg. When it served before court, General Zuma pleaded guilty for the loss of a firearm because what else was he supposed to do? He had reported that the firearm was lost," Phahlane said. 

The matter was concluded in December and the court slapped Zuma with a fine, which he has since paid.  

With these matters resolved, there were no other pending charges against Zuma, Phahlane said. 

This is Zuma's second try at being a provincial police commissioner. 

In August 2013, the then national police commissioner, Riah Phiyega appointed him as the commissioner for Gauteng. 

Phiyega, was however forced to revoke his appointment several hours later when she learnt of the criminal investigation against him at the time. 

Phahlane came to Zuma's defence about that incident. 

He claimed that Zuma had not applied for the Gauteng top cop position and was merely appointed. Therefore, there had been no opportunity to disclose the charges which were pending against him at the time. 

"So it was unfair to say that he failed to disclose because he had not applied for any post then," Phahlane said, adding that Zuma had not filled out any forms for the post. 

He called for an end to the dark cloud hanging over Zuma.

"Can we once and for all respect the issues of the court?... Let's not make someone a criminal when he is not," Phahlane said. 

He had confidence that Zuma would be able to successfully fight crime in Mpumalanga. 

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.