Pretoria - Acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Kgomotso Phahlane has defended the appointment of new Mpumalanga top cop, Lieutenant-General Mondli Zuma.
The appointment and Zuma’s spell in the SAPS have been shrouded with controversy following a revelation that he was charged with reckless and negligent driving when he was briefly appointed provincial commissioner of Gauteng in 2013 by suspended national commissioner Riah Phiyega.
Phahlane told journalists in Pretoria on Monday Zuma should not have been prosecuted by the media or general public, but by the courts.
“He has since gone through court processes and at the end, you know that he was not found guilty,” Phahlane said. “Then there emerged an issue relating to the loss of a firearm. Before court, he pleaded guilty for the loss of a firearm. What else was he supposed to do?
“The firearm was lost and he reported it as having been lost; they broke into his vehicle and stole it. A fine was imposed, which he paid in December.”
In August 2013, Phiyega announced Zuma’s appointment as Gauteng commissioner to replace the departing Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros.
Phiyega withdrew the appointment a few hours later, saying Zuma had not informed the SAPS of any pending criminal investigations against him.
The Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court acquitted him of the charges. Zuma, who headed the Nkandla investigation, again faced criminal charges after the loss of his service pistol in August 2014.
Phahlane said issues against Zuma were settled, and nothing prevented him from occupying the highest policing post in Mpumalanga. “What else does he still have to answer for? If the courts found him not guilty, why must we still be talking of General Zuma?
“There are no criminal charges against General Zuma. We have advertised the post and General Zuma, like any other applicant, participated in that process.”
According to Phahlane, Zuma declared the criminal matters he had faced when he applied to be a provincial commissioner.
“The panel was satisfied all those criminal matters were accordingly dealt with by the courts - which didn’t give us a reason to hold that against him.
“I know there was reference that when he was to be appointed provincial commissioner for Gauteng; he didn’t disclose.”
He explained that Zuma was appointed Gauteng provincial commissioner in 2013; he had not applied for the job and thus did not have to disclose his criminal charges at the time.
“You can only disclose if you are an applicant. In the process then, General Zuma had not applied for an appointment. There was no form where he could have said, I have the following matters pending against me. It was actually unfair to continue saying that he failed to disclose.”
Phahlane also announced a number of new appointments, this as part of the SAPS back to basics programme and restructuring programme in order to increase the number of deputy national commissioners from three to five while reducing the number of divisional commissioners from 15 to 13.
He said Lieutenant-General Nobesuthu Masiye was appointed as the head of visible policing. She is the first black woman in South African history to occupy the post.
Phahlane also announced a number of appointments which included the redeployment of the former Gauteng provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba, who has been appointed to lead the management intervention unit.
Pretoria News