Johannesburg - The commander of the East Rand Flying Squad, Lieutenant-Colonel Mbongeni Aubrey Khumalo, has been accused of bullying and victimising staff, practising nepotism and running the unit like his personal fiefdom.
Sources at the unit’s Germiston headquarters in Ekurhuleni alleged Khumalo frequently took unauthorised leave, drove around in official state vehicles for personal use and ill-treated colleagues.
They said he was “abusing his powers with impunity” as he was getting undue protection from the Gauteng provincial police’s top brass.
Khumalo was transferred to Germiston from the Midrand Flying Squad in 2011 to replace Lieutenant-Colonel Dirk Badenhorst, who had been accused of racism.
The transfers were done by Gauteng’s head of operational responses services, Major-General Phumza Gela, said to be Khumalo’s close confidant.
Gela is among the five officials suspended after the Gupta Waterkloof Air Force Base
wedding plane controversy.
The Star can reveal that before his transfer, Khumalo was dismissed from his position in Midrand after he was found guilty of misconduct.
The charges related to his alleged role in a fight involving Chinese who allegedly beat up their countryman and left him for dead.
Khumalo, another police officer and a security company owner were arrested for allegedly being responsible for the beating in Cyrildene, Joburg, in July 2010.
He and the security company owner were charged with defeating the ends of justice.
Khumalo’s dismissal later, sources said, was “unjustly overturned by the provincial commissioner, Mzwandile Petros, on a technicality”.
Staffers told The Star that Khumalo “wantonly abused his powers” because he was getting undue protection from Gela and other bigwigs in the provincial police department.
Two well-placed sources said Khumalo had continued to draw a salary even though he was supposedly suspended without pay. This, they said, had continued even after he was fired before the dismissal was overturned.
“Immediately when someone gets arrested and suspended, he is considered to be on suspension without pay. But when he (Khumalo) was discharged (dismissed), he continued being paid,” said a source.
The Star can also reveal that Khumalo is on study leave, although the police station does not have any records of his application.
“We just heard that he is on study leave. Again, we don’t have any (application) papers showing that he applied,” the source said.
He added that Khumalo frequently took unauthorised “rest leaves” without having accumulated days.
However, on Wednesday, after The Star put in a query to police spokesman Neville Malila, it appeared Khumalo had applied for leave.
“His application is suddenly lying at one of the offices,” said another source.
Three independent sources told The Star that Khumalo used a state vehicle illegally to attend last week’s much-publicised Gupta wedding at Sun City.
“This man takes leave willy-nilly, while he refuses members to the leave they deserve. Again, the same man who misuses official vehicles refuses members the right to use transport when they knock off way too late, although police regulations allow that.”
Khumalo allegedly approved leave and transport only for those close to him.
The lieutenant-colonel could not be reached for comment as he was said to be on study leave until June 13.
His official cellphone was answered by a man who identified himself as the acting commander, a Captain Mosoetsa.
“The commander said you must speak to Brigadier Malila,” Mosoetsa said.
The Star understands, however, that Khumalo had arrived at the station on Wednesday and demanded to know the identity of people leaking information to the media.
The witch-hunt was said to have continued until Thursday.
Badenhorst and Gela could also not be reached for comment. The police station where Badenhorst works said he was off-duty.
Malila would neither confirm nor deny the allegations against Khumalo, saying “the outcome of internal matters are not open for discussion in the media”.
“The information contained in the enquiry relates to matters which are being dealt with in terms of the SAPS internal disciplinary code and procedures.”
Malila said the racism allegations against Badenhorst had been dealt with and finalised in terms of internal procedures.
The Star