Witnesses at the Madlanga commission have continued to expose the alleged failure of the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) to hold its members accountable for their alleged crimes.
On Tuesday, Ekurhuleni’s head of legal services, Kemi Behari, conceded that the letter drafted by his department in response to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s (Ipid) report on suspended EMPD deputy commissioner Julius Mkhwanazi “looked like an attack”.
Mkhwanazi was placed on special leave in September last year after being linked to controversial businessman Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala.
The municipality only suspended him in November.
Mkhwanazi faced allegations of serious misconduct, and Ipid’s preliminary report in December 2023 called for disciplinary action against him.
However, EMPD allegedly failed to act against him, stating it would wait for the conclusion of criminal proceedings against him.
On Wednesday, Ipid acting national head of investigations, Thuso Keefelakae, told the commission that drug peddling and truck hijackings are rampant among officials of the EMPD.
“What we have observed in that municipality is that there are other trends that we have identified through some intelligence that have been staged. It’s a problem. And we have the issue of drugs, the proliferation of drugs there. Drug peddling – it’s something that is a challenge in such a way that it’s a business,” he said.
“The police are involved. The EMPD is involved in those kinds of things. They operate in such a way that they are in silos. This silo is responsible for making sure that, where drugs are concerned, it is our terrain. And those who are dealing with drugs that carry consignments of goods are in their terrain. It’s don’t touch.”
EMPD internal processes
On Friday, Ipid’s assistant director for investigations, Thulani Magagula, told the commission about more cases against EMPD members.
Magagula accused the EMPD of failing to hold disciplinary hearings against two members who allegedly stole a truck in Putfontein in February 2023.
He said the case against the two officers had stalled because the key witness he had been communicating with was afraid of the police.
All the other witnesses have also disappeared and won’t talk to the Ipid out of fear for their lives.
‘Common practice’
Magagula said the EMPD’s alleged failure to hold its members accountable was common.
“My experience with EMPD, on the cases that we have done, when we give them copies [of charges against the accused], they open their disciplinary register, they put them there, and we run with our investigation, criminally, until the member is found guilty,” he explained.
“Those are the successes that they will have departmentally, not because of their investigation, even if we have provided them with the copies. Remember, criminal proceedings run for a long time.
ALSO READ: Intelligence reveals EMPD officials involved in drug peddling – Ipid investigations boss
“There is a serial rapist in EMPD, which Nomsa Masuku [senior Ipid investigator] was investigating. That case ran for many years, and that serial rapist was found guilty, so he was given multiple life sentences. That member was still working. He was raping minor children. His dismissal was not because of their department. It was because of the criminal conviction.
“There was another case that I have done of a white male officer who was working at K9, also raping a child of his friend. He was also found guilty. That member was found guilty at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court. It was the time that the member was dismissed. Not by their internal processes. They will have our copies, but nothing will happen. They will park it there. So they are depending on the outcome of the Ipid criminal investigation.”
Infighting
Magagula said instead of using Ipid charge copies to institute disciplinary proceedings, the EMPD members use them to “wage a war against each other”.
“When we give them copies, it is an allegation against a certain member. If he does something, they will expose you. So it is not for a good purpose,” he said.
“We can go as far as 2020, and looking at their departmental hearing, the members that were dismissed, and we look at why they were dismissed. Were they dismissed because of their departmental hearing or because of a criminal conviction?”
NOW READ: ‘Your lives are at risk’: Witness D cautioned Ipid investigators during Brakpan murder probe
About the Author
