Johannesburg - Police said on Saturday that they were not aware of an alleged list containing the names of police officials, including Lt-Gen Layton Mzondeki “Sean” Tshabalala who died this week, whom were apparently mistreated.
“We obviously are not aware of this list that is being referred to,” national police spokesman Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale told Sapa.
Makgale was responding to tweets by Selby Bokaba from the funeral service of Tshabalala.
Bokaba, the City of Tshwane spokesman, tweeted that former national police commissioner Bheki Cele had told mourners at Tshabalala's funeral in Randburg that there was a list of police who had been badly-treated.
“#Walter Sisulu Hall in Randburg is stunned by Bheki Cele's revelation. Why was Sean on the list of targeted people in the police? asks Cele,” read one of Bokaba's tweets.
“Tshabalala's name is number 1 on the list of 18 other former MK (Umkhonto we Sizwe) colleagues and current Saps colleagues,” Bokaba tweeted on Cele's speech.
In a further tweet, Bokaba reported that Cele claimed Tshabalala had documented his mistreatment: “#Bheki Cele now reading out #Sean Tshabalala's document expressing his ill-treatment in the Saps. The hall claps”.
Bokaba said he was attending the funeral as he had previously worked with Tshabalala.
Asked by Sapa whether he had made the comments about the list, Cele said: “I did speak about that”.
However, he said his comment on the matter “ends there”.
A police investigation has been launched into the death of Tshabalala, who had been the police inspectorate's divisional commissioner, after his body was found in his office at police headquarters in Pretoria on Tuesday. - Sapa