Durban - KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni may finally face the music for her alleged close relationship with Durban businessman Thoshan Panday.
National police spokesman Solomon Mokgale confirmed to The Mercury that she faced disciplinary action and that a report had been received from the Independent Police Investigation Directorate, Ipid.
He said police were investigating charges under section 12 (“serious misconduct”) of the police regulations against her and two other officers, Colonel Navin Madhoe and Captain Aswin Narainpershad.
Regulations stipulate that the investigation must be completed “as soon as reasonably possible”.
The Mercury previously reported that Ngobeni allegedly ordered the Hawks to stop investigating Panday.
Panday and Narainpershad were charged in 2011 with conspiracy to commit fraud and corruption, in trying to bribe another policeman to accept false invoices for World Cup accommodation. The charges were provisionally withdrawn in 2013 because of problems with evidence.
Madhoe and Panday were accused in 2011 of trying to bribe Major-General Booysen, the Hawks head at the time, with R2m to quash investigations into the R60m accommodation scam. Those charges were withdrawn in April 2014 because of “irregularities”.
The disciplinary hearing against Ngobeni comes barely two months after her five-year contract was renewed. She will answer to allegations, that she had a cosy relationship with Panday, at a departmental inquiry in which, if found guilty, she could lose her job.
The relationship first came to the fore in 2010, when Panday had allegedly funded a surprise party arranged for the commissioner’s husband, Brigadier Lucas Ngobeni.
The Mercury first reported in September 2011 on the party, held at The Dish restaurant at the Royal Palm Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks on May 29, 2010. According to police statements, the party was paid for by Panday.
The Mercury reported that 40 guests - many of them high-ranking police officers - enjoyed a R220-a-head buffet dinner, with champagne, wine, whisky and a DJ thrown in.
The following year, the Hawks told Ngobeni she was a suspect and she was interviewed in her office by officers.
But, in spite of affidavits from the restaurant owner and DJ, the provincial director of public prosecutions declined to press charges.
According to a well-placed police source, the Ipid report- dated February 13, 2015 - instructed national police commissioner Riah Phiyega to institute disciplinary proceedings against the three.
Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini declined to comment and referred queries to the SAPS headquarters.
In an e-mailed response to The Mercury, Makgale said the three would be investigated in line with SAPS disciplinary processes.
He said, based on recommendations made by the report, a “regulation 12 investigation is going to be conducted” by the police.
T
he outcome of that investigation would determine whether disciplinary charges would be preferred.
“This is the process we follow on all matters referred to the SAPS by Ipid.”
He said that in terms of disciplinary matters, only the SAPS as the employer could bring charges against an employee.
Approached for comment, Ngobeni said: “What can I say? Speak to head office.”
The Mercury was unable to contact Madhoe, Narainpershad or their attorneys despite e-mails and telephone calls.
The DA’s spokeswoman on police, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, welcomed the findings,
She said: “I trust that the disciplinary hearing will be run by an advocate - as was the one on Johan Booysen (provincial Hawks head). I want to see even-handed play.”
She hoped it would not be a “little internal ‘chommie’ thing with someone doing a tick-box exercise saying she’s cleared”.
“I want a full investigation with an advocate - someone who is not involved with the police. That’s the only process I will accept as.”
The Mercury