Cabinet should not be expected to discuss the saga around newly-appointed police crime intelligence boss Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli, Minister Collins Chabane said on Friday.
“It would be unfair to expect Cabinet to discuss case by case as they appear in the public domain,” Chabane told reporters after Cabinet's fortnightly meeting. His briefing in Pretoria was relayed via a video link to Cape Town.
“What we announce here is Cabinet decision, not discussion,” he said.
Mdluli was once the focus of fraud and corruption, and murder investigations.
Chabane, Minister of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, said: “It cannot be a Cabinet agenda to be discussing individual cases of individual employees employed by the state.”
The criminal charges against Mdluli related to his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend Oupa Ramogibe's 1999 murder. They were recently withdrawn against Mdluli, court orderly Samuel Dlomo, Colonel Nkosana Sebastian Ximba, and Lieutenant-Colonel Mtunzi-Omhle Mthembeni Mtunzi.
The fraud and corruption charges against Mdluli, which City Press reported were related to improper use of crime intelligence money, were also dropped.
The National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) Glynnis Breytenbach, who was working on the Mdluli case, was suspended. She was regional head of the NPA in Gauteng's specialised commercial crime unit.
The NPA, however, said there was no link between her suspension and the Mdluli matter.
Chabane said: “It is true that Cabinet is worried about the issue, like everybody else would be worried.”
The matter was to be attended to by the department and the committee responsible for the cluster of departments concerned.
“Those matters, including that one, must be dealt with as expeditiously as possible, so that we are able to stabilise the police services, for them to do their functions optimally,” Chabane said. – Sapa