Johannesburg - Disgruntled police officers are angry that a multimillion-rand forensic report implicating acting national commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane is gathering dust in his Pretoria office.
They accuse him of showing little or no interest in implementing its recommendations on wide-ranging issues, including irregular recruitment processes and failure to deal with internal grievances in the forensic services division.
Suspended police commissioner General Riah Phiyega handed the report to the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in April last year. It was commissioned after a group of officers, who are Popcru members attached to the forensic services and criminal record centre division, approached the union with damning allegations of fraud, corruption and maladministration.
Speaking to The Star recently, the officers, who did not wish to be named for fear of victimisation, accused Phahlane of irregularly appointing and promoting at least three senior officers.
The incidents date from 2011 during his tenure as divisional commissioner in the forensic services division.
Popcru alleged that the appointments of the members - described in the confidential report only as Brigadier Annette Morapedi, Brigadier De Wit and Colonel Daku - were irregular.
The report, which The Star has seen, stated that De Wit was “surprised when she was contacted by Lieutenant-General Phahlane telephonically to advise her of the promotion”.
It said De Wit served about two years in the rank of colonel and, therefore, shouldn’t have qualified for the promotion to brigadier.
Morapedi’s application for brigadier was initially rejected because her CV wasn’t attached, only copies of qualifications. Her promotion was, therefore, “irregular based on her qualifications”, among other factors.
Daku’s appointment as colonel “resulted in the skipping of two ranks, to wit those of major and lieutenant-colonel, under circumstances where Captain Daku historically also appeared to have skipped ranks from sergeant to captain”.
It was recommended that the appointments be reviewed at national level.
The whistle-blowers who approached Popcru with the claims alleged that Phahlane was refusing to implement the report’s findings.
“The forensic investigation cost R6 million and is now gathering dust in his office. He is not Mr Clean, as he purports to be. He’s the worst of them all,” said a police officer.
Another said Phahlane had instituted a civil case against them for defamation and the matter was due to be heard in the high court in Pretoria next year.
“In the report, we were referred to as whistle-blowers. How did Phahlane know that it’s us? We aren’t sleeping on this matter. We’re fighting to get our names cleared.”
A third officer said they suspected their cellphones were bugged. “We’re victimised and are given unpaid leave. We’re being overlooked for promotions and suspect that our movements are monitored,” the officer said.
Phahlane’s spokesperson Brigadier Mashadi Selepe had not responded to questions at the time of publication.