The Star’s malicious reports on Lieutenant General Mthandazo Ntlemeza is nothing new

4 May 2016

The Star key role in selling Lieutenant General Mthandazo Ntlemeza to the public is that he is hideous and corrupt. 

That tactic continues to be the staple of how The Star and other major local newspapers operate, especially in the national security area.

We have seen it with the South African Revenue Services, the Acting National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).

And journalists who write such reports continue to treat self-serving decrees by unsavoury characters - laundered through their media - as gospel, no matter how dubious are the claims or factually false is the reporting.

The purest example of this vibrant reporting is The Star lead front-pageFriday (29 April 2016) article, headlined “Hawks boss Ntlemeza could be charged.”

Just as the conventional media narrative was shifting to pro-Ntlemeza in the wake of a key court ruling that prevented him from being removed from his post, the article claims to have cracked top-secret information that Ntlemeza is set to be charged for defeating the ends of justice for a so called case that has been dragging on for five years. Five years really?

According to The Star, the head of the Hawks is accused of ignoring a complaint against a former police captain at Polokwane police station. The officer, Thomas Rallele, was caught red-handed with a cellphone taken during an armed robbery and defrauding the police by falsifying vehicle logs.

The complaint was submitted by Lieutenant Boitumelo Ramahlaha, who was stationed at Polokwane police station and investigated Rallele, and ultimately convicted him after detailed reports proved Rallele’s guilt.

Ramahlaha reported the misconduct to Ntlemeza, who was the deputy provincial commissioner for Limpopo at the time. The complaint has seemingly been ignored for the past five years.

The Star understands that the completed docket is finally in the hands of the NPA, who will decide by next week whether Ntlemeza should be charged with defeating the ends of justice.

Aside from the serious fabrications on which this article depends, the entire report is a self-negating joke. It reads like an imitation. It also gives voice to dull but inflammatory accusations that are made about their so called trusted informer.

The Star article is even worse because it protects the so called trusted informer they are serving. The beauty of this tactic is that the accusations can’t be challenged. The official accusers are being hidden by the journalists so nobody can confront them or hold them accountable when their malicious accusations turn out to be false.

The evidence can’t be analysed or dissected because there literally is none - they just make malicious accusations.

And as is always true, there is no way to prove the negative. It’s like being smeared by a ghost with a substance that you can’t touch.

However, The Star’s lies must be exposed truth must be told:

Lie number one – Ramahlaha has less than five years working in Limpopo, so how can The Star justify the five years is professing. 

Lie number two - Captain Rallele was dismissed two years ago, the same year the stolen phone was found in his possession, taken to court and his services were terminated from the SAPS during Ntlemeza’s time.

Lie number three – Ramahlaha was never stationed at Polokwane police station nor investigated any cases.

As for the alleged relationship between Rallele and Ntlemeza’s daughter, that is a personal issue which Ramahlaha will have to answer to himself.

The alleged incident occurred when Lieutenant General Ntlemeza was practically a “nobody” in Limpopo, the question is why do these so called sources only bringing this issue now when the man has been elevated to lead the Hawks?

Meanwhile, Ramahlaha’s squeaky-clean image is continuously built on mischievous lies and he and his masters’ ugly smear campaigns will be revealed soon. 

Why is the country not been told the truth about his illegal escapades with a bogus police who operated from Seshego and Polokwane police stations as well his alleged involvement in a murder of a Nigerian man in Polokwane just to name a few.

It is obvious that The Star is merely recycling the same evidence-free smears that have been used by other media houses, The Mail and Guardian to be precise. 

But what is surprising, and outrageous, is journalists continue to be so plagued by some combination of absurdity and gullibility, so that no matter how many times this trick is revealed, they keep falling for it. 

I align myself with Adolf Hitler when he said if you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. The journalist’s agenda is evident, make the lie big, keep saying it, and eventually they country will believe it.

Issued by Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi on behalf of SAPS, 4 May 2016