Pretoria – Former South African Police Union chairperson Mpho Kwinika has been dismissed from the SAPS following disciplinary processes.
Kwinika had faced disciplinary action regarding an incident which occurred in March 2019 when police officers, responding to a complaint of public disturbance, encountered him and his friends outside a block of flats in Pretoria, national police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said in a statement on Tuesday.
Kwinika was allegedly abusive towards the police officers and assaulted one of them, Naidoo said. He was subsequently arrested on multiple charges, among them public disturbance, resisting arrest and assault of a police officer.
’’A departmental investigation was conducted and on 18 December, 2020, Kwinika was found guilty on four counts of serious misconduct by an external independent presiding officer,“ Naidoo said.
Yesterday, Kwinika was dismissed with immediate effect.
National police commissioner General Khehla John Sitole has welcomed the sanction, emphasising that police management will ensure that all members within the ranks of the SAPS conform with its code of conduct, Naidoo said.
At the end of last month, a senior Port Elizabeth cop was dismissed after an Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) probe into allegations that he raped a child.
Police watchdog Ipid said it had concluded an investigation into the rape allegations of an 8-year-old girl by a colonel from the PE police station.
He has been released on R5 000 bail and is under 24-hour house arrest, with strict conditions that he cannot make contact with the complainant, the victim or the victim’s family.
The matter is before the Uitenhage Magistrate's Court and it is yet to be determined whether the trial will be heard by the regional court or the high court.
IOL