Durban - The acting national police commissioner had no power to suspend provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, without the go-ahead from the police minister and the Provincial Executive Committee.
This was the main argument in Ngobeni’s urgent application, brought on Thursday before Durban High Court Judge Nkosinathi Chili, to have her suspension reviewed and set aside.
She brought the application against acting national police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane, the Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko, and the Provincial Executive Council (PEC) in KwaZulu-Natal.
The PEC said on Thursday it would not oppose the application and would abide by the court’s decision.
The acting commissioner required more time to respond to Ngobeni’s affidavit and was expected to file opposing papers next week.
Chili ruled that the matter was urgent and set it down for argument on June 14.
The suspended provincial commissioner is calling for the following decisions to be reviewed and set aside:
* The decision to set up a board of inquiry to determine if she was guilty of misconduct and fit to hold office.
* And the decision to suspend her.
According to Ngobeni’s affidavit, if the acting national police commissioner wanted to have a board of inquiry set up to investigate allegations of misconduct against her, he should have first referred these allegations to the provincial executive council for consideration. It would then refer it to the police minister, who would in turn, if he thought fit, give the statutory notice to the acting commissioner.
Ngobeni was first served an intention to suspend letter in March, when she responded with reasons why she should not be suspended.
In the replying correspondence, Phahlane explained that the board of inquiry was not based on a loss of confidence in Ngobeni from the provincial council and said no notice was issued by the council and referred to the minister.
The four counts to be discussed at the board of inquiry date back to 2010. “I submit that it is preposterous to suppose that I should be suspended after this lengthy period of time,” she said in her affidavit.
Count one alleges Ngobeni committed misconduct by receiving “an undue benefit” from uMhlanga businessman Thoshan Panday, in that he paid for her police officer husband Lucas’s birthday party on May 29, 2010.
“This count is absolutely untrue. Panday did not pay for the birthday party for my husband. I paid for it,” she argued.
Count two alleges she is guilty of defeating the ends of justice and that she ordered a criminal investigation against Panday be stopped. Ngobeni denied this.
Count three alleges she failed and or omitted to work actively toward preventing any form of corruption and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
This refers to the contract Panday’s company was awarded by police services to accommodate police deployed during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Here too, Ngobeni denied the allegation, saying she suspended the police officers involved and took disciplinary steps against them.
The fourth count refers to the three other counts in that she allegedly breached the principles of the police code of conduct.
She said there was no substance to these charges.
Ngobeni argued that Phahlane averred in his notice of suspension that if she continued to hold the position of provincial commissioner, it would undermine or compromise the proper functioning of the police.
She felt there was no merit in this because she had continued in the position from the time the allegations first surfaced, and has commanded a province “perceived as one of the best performing provinces, from a policing point of view”.
Her appointment had been renewed in 2014 for a further five years, she added.
Daily News