Johannesburg - Suspended acting head of crime intelligence, Major-General Chris Ngcobo, has become the latest high-profile personnel to quit his job amid a storm over his qualifications.
But the news of Ngcobo’s departure from the SA Police Service (SAPS) nearly two years after being placed on special leave has left some pointing fingers at National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega and has resulted in renewed calls for her to be sacked.
On Friday the police confirmed Ngcobo had “resigned” from the SAPS following the discovery of “a discrepancy in his academic qualification in respect of his matric certificate, which emerged during a vetting process”.
“His resignation brings to an end the relationship Ngcobo had with the SAPS, and we have no intention of commenting further on this matter. Suffice to say we have members without matric certificates.”
Police spokesperson Vish Naidoo added: “While it’s a futile exercise to pursue departmental proceedings against Ngcobo now that he has resigned. The criminal investigation, however, will continue.”
However, the South African Police Union (Sapu) president Mpho Kwinika said Ngcobo’s departure “was part of an ongoing exodus of strong leaders in the police who knew how to do their work, but were being vindictively purged”.
“People like Major-General Ngcobo are the kind you will not find in the police nowadays,” he said. “This is not good for policing at all. I am not condoning misrepresentation of qualifications, but when he joined the police in 1995 a matric certificate wasn’t a requirement. I know a lot of policemen like him who get the job done but don’t have the certificate.”
Kwinika said Ngcobo’s departure was likely to add pressure on Phiyega, who could face a commission of inquiry into her fitness to hold office after the damning findings of the Farlam Commission on the death of 34 miners in Marikana in 2012.
Ngcobo was reportedly instrumental in the investigation of a criminal case against Phiyega for allegedly tipping off former Western Cape cop boss Arno Lamoer about a probe into his alleged links with drug lords.
The investigation by Independent Police Investigative Directorate, however, found no reasonable prospects for Phiyega’s prosecution.
Last year, former police commissioners Bheki Cele and Tim Williams were reported to have filed affidavits in Ngcobo’s defence for not possessing a matric stating. As a former MK combatant commissioned into the police in 1994, he was not required to possess or produce a matric certificate or any qualifications to qualify for employment when the integrated police force was established.
“I was fully aware he did not possess a matric qualification when I promoted him from the rank of brigadier in 2010,” Cele said in his affidavit, according to City Press.
“The decision to promote Major-General Ngcobo was taken after careful consideration of, inter alia, his personal expertise in the area of VIP protection, including information and threat analysis, his outstanding levels of professionalism as well as his vast leadership experience.”
Attempts to get comment from Ngcobo were unanswered.
Saturday Star