‘Untrue allegations': IDAC denies warrants for national police commissioner Masemola
The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) dismissed claims that arrest warrants exist for National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Fannie Masemola, emphasising that no such warrants have been issued.
In the past weeks, there has been speculation about Masemola's possible arrest following a clampdown on other senior officials in the South African Police Service (Saps), in an investigation involving R45 million in property deals.
On Monday, The Citizen reported that Masemola and four senior crime intelligence officers will each face at least four charges for their roles in the multimillion-rand acquisition of buildings by the Saps Crime Intelligence Unit.
No arrest warrants for Masemola – IDAC
IDAC, and entity of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), refuted these allegations as untrue on Tuesday.
'The NPA's Investigating Directorate Against Corruption has, in the past weeks, received media queries relating to unfounded allegations of warrants having been issued for the arrest of the National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, and others, and has taken note of numerous false articles that have been published on these allegations,' IDAC spokesperson Henry Mamothame said in a statement on Tuesday.
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'IDAC maintains what it has repeatedly confirmed to the media: these are untrue allegations; no such warrants have been issued.'
At the centre of the speculation is the decision by Saps to buy buildings without going through the normal procurement process through the Department of Public Works.
Masemola suspended Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, acting Crime Intelligence supply chain head Brigadier Janse van Vuuren, and finance and administration services head Colonel Samamaya Mayekiso in connection with the matter.
Saps property purchases investigation
Khumalo was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in June following an 'extensive' probe into the alleged unlawful purchase of two luxury properties.
Last month, the EFF leader Julius Malema said that Masemola would be arrested for conspiring with Khumalo.
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Malema's remarks came a week after KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made explosive allegations against police Minister Senzo Mchunu and deputy national commissioner for crime detection Shadrack Sibiya of political interference in police operations.
Last week, the ad hoc committee investigating the allegations made by Mkhwanazi elected Molapi Soviet Lekganyane as its chairperson.
He said in his opening remarks that the matters before the committee are of grave concern to South Africa.
Mkhwanazi ad hoc investigation
The committee is tasked to investigate the veracity and implications of all the allegations made by Mkhwanazi about organs of state and criminal syndicates operating in the country.
'Wherever there would have been unscrupulous activities, South Africans would want us to rise to the occasion and unearth it,' said the chairperson.
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Additional reporting by Faizel Patel
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