Johannesburg – The Head of the Hawks, Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza, has dismissed claims by Independent Police Investigative Directorate boss Robert McBride that Hawks officers were involved in a fight with SAPS members at OR Tambo International Airport over drugs.
Ntlemeza told MPs on Wednesday that he did not know what McBride's motive was to say there was a drug fight between the two units.
He said his members were involved in operations at all major international airports to deal with drug smuggling, but not in a fight with SAPS members over drugs.
McBride told MPs a few weeks ago that they were investigating cases at OR Tambo International Airport where they found that members of the Hawks were fighting with SAPS officers over drugs.
These were drugs that were confiscated from smugglers, but were allegedly taken by the officers on both sides for their own business.
Ntlemeza said he did not know what McBride was talking about when he told Parliament about the fight.
“What I can confirm is that we are having Hawks members at OR Tambo International Airport, Cape Town Airport and King Shaka Airport,” he said.
The Hawks members at the international airports were cracking down on drug smuggling, said Ntlemeza.
He said the issue of the fight at OR Tambo had no basis.
He added that the Hawks had seized many drugs and other illegal substances at various airports as part of their operation.
The chairperson of the portfolio committee on police, Francois Beukman, said they needed to clear up the matter.
He said it did not bode well that members of the SAPS and the Hawks, who were meant to be nabbing drug dealers at the airports, had been involved in a fight.
Ntlemeza said there was no fight between the two groups.
Ipid had told Parliament they were conducting an investigation into the OR Tambo matter.
Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini on Wednesday declined to comment.
Ntlemeza also told MPs that they had now established two specialised units announced by President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation Address in 2014. These would deal with drug dealing and illegal firearms.