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Mdluli Turns on Opponents in Battle for Top Job

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Mdluli Turns on Opponents in Battle for Top Job Legalbrief | your legal news hub Thursday 23 September 2021 Mdluli turns on opponents in battle for top job National police crime intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli is in a battle to eliminate rivals opposed to his planned ascension to National Police Commissioner, according to a report in The Times. It says the offensive - which it alleges involves the Presidency, the Police Ministry and the National Police Commissioner's office - has resulted in Mdluli fingering his bosses as co-conspirators in a campaign to discredit him. Those bosses are suspended police chief General Bheki Cele, Hawks head Lieutenant-General Anwa Dramat, National Crime Detection and Operational Services head Lieutenant-General Shadrack Lebeya and Gauteng Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros. In the past month, Mdluli - a key figure in the inquest into the murder of his former lover's boyfriend - has narrowly escaped criminal prosecution for abuse of state resources, murder, defeating the ends of justice, fraud and corruption. He was then controversially reinstated to the powerful position of crime intelligence chief. In what the report describes as a strongly-worded letter to President Jacob Zuma, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and acting police chief Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi last week, Mdluli claimed senior police officers Cele, Dramat, Lebeya and Petros were openly campaigning to remove him. The letter has created major upheaval within the SAPS, with Mkhwanazi, who recently met Zuma to discuss the saga, fearing the outbreak of widespread panic 'as senior officers tear each other apart in war'. Petros yesterday blasted the letter and its author, demanding an immediate investigation. 'I will not have it. I will not be accused of such things. I do not know where these allegations come from and what they are based on,' he said. Full report in The Times Petros also said his hands were too full to be part of a conspiracy to oust Mdluli. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report he said: 'There is too much crime in Gauteng. When you get involved in a conspiracy, you need time ... I have my hands full. I will leave it at that.' Neither would he comment on Mdluli's reinstatement, saying he could not express his own opinions while 'in uniform'. Full Mail & Guardian Online report More power has been handed to Mdluli. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa revealed in Parliament yesterday that the Hawks would have to get permission from Mdluli if they wanted to approach a judge to be allowed to intercept a suspect's phone calls, says a report in The Mercury. Mthethwa said yesterday: 'Neither the head, nor any other officer on the rank of major-general in the (Hawks) is ... authorised in writing by the acting national commissioner to approve any application for an interception direction to the designated judge. Should an officer of the (Hawks) want to make an application for interception, it must be made through the crime intelligence division.' The report notes this means that not a single member of the Hawks can give the go-ahead when one of its members needs to apply to the designated judge for an 'interception instruction' required by law. Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed) The 'debacle' around the appointment of Mdluli as head of intelligence must be subjected to proper parliamentary scrutiny, DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said yesterday, according to a report on the News24 site. 'Too many questions remained unanswered for this matter to not be thoroughly examined by Parliament,' Kohler Barnard said. 'This debacle has significant implications both for the credibility of the police and for national security, given Mdluli's high-ranking position in the intelligence services,' she said. 'I will today be writing to the chairperson of the police portfolio committee, Sindy Chikunga, to request a special hearing on the Mdluli saga.' Full report on the News24 site Mdluli also has the threat from suspended commercial crimes prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach to consider. A report in The Times notes Breytenbach, who headed the fraud and corruption case against Mdluli, is still considering whether to take legal action against the NPA. Breytenbach's attorney, Gerhard Wagenaar, said yesterday that his client was still considering her options and might lodge an urgent application to have Mdluli's fraud case reinstated on the court roll. Breytenbach was suspended on Monday and it has since emerged that she had threatened to go to court if the NPA's decision not to prosecute Mdluli was not reversed. Full report in The Times A former senior NPA official has challenged the authority to make the docket against Mdluli public in the national interest, says a Beeld report. It quotes Jan Henning SC, who said: 'The NPA's handling of the Mdluli matter has created distrust in the entire criminal justice system. Here we have an exceptional situation where a prosecutor is placing her career on the line because she feels so strongly about the merits of the case and her constitutional obligation to prosecute,' Henning said. Making the docket contents public is the only way to clear the air if Mdluli is not to be prosecuted, he added. Public law professor Koos Malan, of the University of Pretoria, said as the prosecutor, Breytenbach was in a far better position than her superiors to decide on the merits of the prosecution. 'One would expect that warning lights would flicker for the NPA after the SCA's judgment (in the corruption case of President Jacob Zuma).' According to Malan, the NPA has created the impression that those close to the state will be spared, bringing the prosecuting authority's integrity is into question. Full Beeld report Meanwhile, the official reason for Breytenbach's suspension - the Kumba/ICT mining rights dispute - will be considered by the Northern Cape High Court this month, says a Beeld report. It notes Breytenbach states in an affidavit that the allegations made in the Kumba/ICT fraud cases could expose the way the Department of Mineral Resources functions. As the investigation was in the national interest, and was complicated and potentially serious, she decided to handle the matter herself and not to delegate it to a more junior prosecutor, she says. Breytenbach reacted to criticism in court papers about her role in the fraud investigation. ICT, that has ties with Zuma's son Duduzane and the Gupta brothers, is asking the court to set aside the search and seizure warrants issued by a magistrate on 27 July last year. According to Breytenbach, ICT is frustrating the investigation and incorrectly believes that the magistrate ruled on the merits of the matter when the warrants were issued. Full Beeld report .
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