DURBAN - OPPOSITION parties have called for the immediate suspension of all the eThekwini metro police officers who were allegedly responsible for recruitment and training as well as those who hired irregularly until their disciplinary hearings are finalised.
DA councillor Chris van den Berg, who sits on the municipality’s safety and security committee, told the Daily News on Tuesday that it was surprising that it had taken the city a year to fully implement the recommendations of the report. He added that he did not understand why the officials fingered in the report were never suspended.
“The officials who were cited in the report should have been suspended pending the finalisation of the hearings. Secondly, why was the report kept a secret for almost a year, because it was never tabled either in the council or in the safety and security committee?”
IFP caucus leader Mdu Nkosi said the report was never discussed by the eThekwini council, although he knew there was an investigation.
“It has become a norm in the municipality that investigations are initiated, but findings never revealed or acted upon. We believe there were more reports still hidden on the municipality’s shelves.”
He also called for the suspension of those fingered in the report.
“We know these recruitment processes were flawed. Applicants told us that despite meeting all requirements, they were not hired, and suspected that people who were hired had connections either politically or they were relatives of the councillors and police officials,” said Nkosi.
Further, he said that one of the applicants told him he had to wait for 30 minutes for a female applicant before they could start the fitness test, adding that others late by a few minutes were not allowed to proceed.
Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said there had been a disciplinary hearing, and another hearing was scheduled for November 5 and 6, adding that the city was “aggressively dealing” with these issues. He asked the media to give them space to finalise these “internal matters” and promised that this would be communicated to the public once it had reached a final stage.
The 228-page report was instituted and completed last year after allegations of favouritism during the intake of police recruits in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 surfaced.
The investigators also looked into the allegations of nepotism, abuse of municipal vehicles and abuse of overtime allowances by the officers.
It found that recruitment processes were tainted with irregularities to a point that it also constituted wasteful expenditure. It also found that officers irregularly claimed overtime allowances while off duty.
The report further revealed that the deputy head of metro police, Sibonelo Mchunu, irregularly appointed the mother of his two boys to a senior position in the police force. It also found that his children were being transported to and from school with the municipal vehicles. Mchunu dismissed all the findings against him, saying the allegations were sour grapes by people who wanted his position.
“The entire report was investigating gossip from bitter members who lost in the promotion contest, so now they are using extracts from this investigation to tarnish my image in the newspapers,” said Mchunu.
Further, he said he was more qualified than all four predecessors in this position, adding that he had 22 years of experience and held a Diploma in Public Relations as well as a law degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Daily News