{"id":6292,"date":"2021-03-13T20:23:21","date_gmt":"2021-03-13T20:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?p=6292"},"modified":"2021-03-13T18:19:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T18:19:33","slug":"general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice","title":{"rendered":"General Khehla Sitole: Is being National Police Commissioner a poisoned chalice?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Durban \u2013 With National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole\u2019s future in his current role uncertain, he could be next on the long list of South Africa\u2019s top cops who have not finished their terms in office.<\/p>\n

This week, Police Minister Bheki Cele wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting that an inquiry be instituted into Sitole\u2019s fitness to hold office.<\/p>\n

A career cop of over 35 years, Sitole\u2019s troubles began when the Pretoria High Court found in January that he and his two deputies were in breach of their duties for not providing and declassifying documents for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption.<\/p>\n

Sitole\u2019s woes were compounded last week when the same court dismissed his application for leave to appeal the January judgment.<\/p>\n

The basis of the court matter stems from the alleged attempt by Sitole and his officials to procure a \u2019grabber\u2019 – an electronic device with the capability of intercepting phone calls and cellphone messages – for R45 million (despite these retailing at between R7 million to R10 million) ahead of the ANC\u2019s 54th national conference in Nasrec, allegedly with the idea of influencing voting for the ruling party\u2019s top leadership positions.<\/p>\n

This week, Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies said an inquiry should be appointed only when the Cabinet has lost confidence in the commissioner\u2019s ability to hold office.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to Section 8 of the South African Police Service Act of 1995, the president may appoint a board of inquiry consisting of a judge of the high court and two other suitable persons, when the national commissioner has lost the confidence of the Cabinet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no mention of a loss of confidence only by the Minister, although the Minister is a member of Cabinet, or even a loss of confidence by the president. It must be the Cabinet,\u201d Burger said .<\/p>\n

He said Ramaphosa, probably with Cele\u2019s support, would have to convince the rest of the Cabinet to no longer have confidence in the national commissioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were of course reports in the media about the president requesting the minister to direct the national commissioner to provide the president with the declassified documents relating to the so-called \u2018grabber\u2019 and the reason why the high court passed such a \u2018scathing\u2019 judgment on the way Sitole and his two deputies managed that situation,\u201d Burger said.<\/p>\n

He said that this clearly indicated that Ramaphosa saw this as a serious attack by the high court on the credibility of the national commissioner and therefore obligating him as president to apply his mind whether he, and by implication, the Cabinet, should still have confidence in Sitole.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate for him, Sitole, that his conduct in relation to the \u2018grabber\u2019 saga and the allegations that he acted dishonestly and deliberately obstructed a legitimate Ipid investigation will now probably force him to join the ranks of those who did not complete their term in office.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for the SAPS, if he should be removed, it will be another blot on their name and an embarrassing experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will certainly not assist the already big crisis in our police service and will only contribute to uncertainty and further turmoil,\u201d Burger said.<\/p>\n

Sitole was appointed national police commissioner in November 2017 by former president Jacob Zuma. He replaced Riah Phiyega, who was appointed to the position by Zuma in 2012 and axed in 2015.<\/p>\n

Before Phiyega, Cele was appointed by Zuma to serve as commissioner between 2009 and 2011 but was suspended following corruption allegations while his predecessor, the late Jackie Selebi, was axed from the position amid corruption allegations. Selebi was later convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail.<\/p>\n

[email protected]<\/p>\n

Political Bureau<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Durban \u2013 With National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole\u2019s future in his current role uncertain, he could be next on the long list of South Africa\u2019s top cops who have not finished their terms in office. This week, Police Minister Bheki Cele wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting that an inquiry be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-6292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral Khehla Sitole: Is being National Police Commissioner a poisoned chalice? - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Durban \u2013 With National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole\u2019s future in his current role uncertain, he could be nex ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"General Khehla Sitole: Is being National Police Commissioner a poisoned chalice?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Durban \u2013 With National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole\u2019s future in his current role uncertain, he could be nex ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-13T20:23:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/img-604d021bb2726.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"404\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"General Khehla Sitole: Is being National Police Commissioner a poisoned chalice?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-13T20:23:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice\"},\"wordCount\":631,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/img-604d021bb2726.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/general-khehla-sitole-is-being-national-police-commissioner-a-poisoned-chalice\",\"name\":\"General Khehla Sitole: Is being National Police Commissioner a poisoned chalice? 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