Johannesburg - Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Deliwe de Lange is facing allegations of nepotism after her son Tshidiso Damane was admitted to a police training college with a criminal charge hanging over his head.
A charge of common assault opened against Damane, 28, was withdrawn on March 30, 2015, allegedly three days after his admission to the police academy in Gauteng.
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko has, however, defended Damane’s enlistment, saying he was subjected to “psychometric testing, physical assessment, interview, medical evaluation, fingerprints and met all the requirements for enlistment as a police trainee”.
The DA has disregarded the minister’s explanations, saying it was highly questionable that Damane was better qualified or one of the “more exemplary applicants to enter the SAPS”.
In a parliamentary response, the minister said Damane was currently on a two-year contract and would only be permanently appointed as a member of the SAPS “on successful completion of the prescribed training”.
Nhleko, who admitted that Damane was De Lange’s son, was replying to questions from DA MP and shadow police minister Zakhele Mbhele, which The Star has seen.
Damane, according to Nhleko’s answers, faced two charges of common assault, and domestic violence related and malicious damage to property.
However, the common assault docket was withdrawn by the public prosecutor on May 11, 2010 and finalised by way of “alternative dispute resolution”, while the common assault one was withdrawn by the complainant on March 30, 2015.
The complainant, Nhleko wrote in his reply, indicated that “she did not want to continue with the case as she was relocating to Cape Town. She indicated that the case was going to take too much of her time”.
Mbhele said they were concerned about nepotism in the police service, saying such ills contributed to the “chronic neglect that has left the SAPS in a shoddy and declining state” with under-resourced personnel.
His colleague, Kate Lorimer, the party’s shadow MEC for Safety and Security in Gauteng, raised concern over De Lange’s integrity, “as charges against her son were withdrawn after being admitted to police training college”.
This raised questions of whether De Lange “has had a hand in the withdrawal of charges against Damane, as well as him being fast-tracked into the SAPS”.
De Lange could not be reached for comment.
Acting Gauteng head of corporate communication, Colonel Noxolo Kweza, absolved De Lange of having played a part in her son’s recruitment into the SAPS, saying Damane went through a “stringent” selection process like other recruits.
Kweza told The Star that the SAPS recruitment process involved comments and inputs from community members, and said: “The decision on whether to take the applicant or not is finalised and taken by head office without involvement of the provincial office.”
She added that their recruitment policy did not exclude “family members of current (SAPS) members to apply for positions in the organisation”.
Lorimer said she would ask for the records relating to Damane’s application to join the SAPS to see whether he declared he had any criminal or civil charges pending against him.
“Considering the one case was only dropped after he entered the training college, one wonders how he was accepted if he declared there was a common assault case pending,” she said.
The police service had no place for nepotism and cronyism, “and the DA will not shy away from summoning Commissioner de Lange before the Parliamentary Committee to explain her actions”, Lorimer said.
@luyolomkentane
The Star