In a bizarre turn of events, some of the 11 Tshwane metro police officers suspended for moonlighting at the Gupta wedding have now accused their boss of masterminding the plot to blackmail the city’s metro police.
They say the earlier claim that they had blackmailed the city to drop the charges against them or they would release video footage showing drugs being offloaded from the Gupta plane at Waterkloof Air Force Base was the idea of their boss, whose name is known to The Sunday Independent. She can’t be named at this stage for legal reasons. She did not respond to our queries.
One of the officers, Sergeant Andre Gouws, also alleges that his boss blackmailed him into divulging the names of his accomplices who moonlighted at the wedding, or he would be dismissed. Contacted on Friday, Gouws would not comment.
City of Tshwane spokesman Blessing Manale said the council would establish the validity of the allegations and take action. He was not aware of any officials being blackmailed into “taking unlawful actions”. “If we have a prima facie case, (she) will be suspended and we will activate a full investigation,” said Manale.
Three weeks ago, The Sunday Independent revealed how Tshwane metro police chief Steven Ngobeni was told to drop the charges against the 11 officers arrested for moonlighting, or they would release a mysterious video showing drugs being offloaded from the plane at the base.
At the time, the video’s existence could not be confirmed, but council officials privately confirmed that the officers – who apparently approached the council through their boss – claimed to be in possession of the explosive footage.
The officers had escorted and provided security for the more than 200 guests invited to the wedding of Vega Gupta and Aakash Jahajgarhia.
Ngobeni was allegedly told that the video also showed President Jacob Zuma attending the wedding and how Jahajgarhia was escorted by the flying squad when he test-drove a sports car the Guptas bought him.
The officers’ boss had allegedly approached Ngobeni, who apparently went to executive mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa with the offer.
Ramokgopa dismissed it and the officers were suspended. The officers are now facing charges of accepting employment from the Guptas as part of a security detail and bringing the council’s name into disrepute. Their next hearing is on June 3.
But one of the officers involved in the wedding, who did not wish to be named as the council had barred them from speaking to the media, has told The Sunday Independent that at no stage did the officers try to bargain with their management.
During the first meeting called with the officers, he said, some of his colleagues had asked about the charges against them. Others mentioned samples of items that they had seen being offloaded. “But it was never labelled drugs, dangerous or anything that could be used as ‘blackmail’,” said the officer.
“I don’t understand how the focus has turned to us when the state should be answering why they let this happen in the first place. From the beginning the mayor and everyone said we were guilty. It’s not like we arranged this whole thing. We did not even come up with this blackmail.”
In a statement, Gouws has accused his boss of blackmailing him into divulging the names of the other officers who worked at the wedding. The Sunday Independent understands the statement was given to Gouws’s union representative, soon after he and 10 other officers first met management.
In the statement, Gouws details his interactions with his boss, who allegedly contacted him after two metro police officers, who had their firearms, were arrested at Sun City for contravening the Firearms Control Act.
The officers are prohibited from taking their firearms out of their municipality. They had handed in their firearms at the hotel safe and this was discovered by the presidential protection unit, which, according to Gouws’s statement, did a security clearance at the hotel for the pending arrival of Zuma.
But he did not arrive. Yesterday presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said he would not comment on the allegation as there were processes taking place.
“There was a report and the president has welcomed that and urged the agencies to take up the matter,” said Maharaj.
Gouws, according to the statement, had contacted his boss on the evening to inform her of the arrest.
The revelations come in the same week that the justice cluster released a report following investigations by several of its directors-general reiterating that there was no executive nod authorising the landing of the civilian jet at the military base last month.