A report by public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has found police minister Bheki Cele and the police were grossly negligent in failing to provide protection to whistle-blowers on corruption and police killings in KwaZulu-Natal.
In a report dated August 10‚ Mkhwebane found that Cele and the police’s failure to protect two men who blew the whistle on corruption — which they claimed was behind the murder of former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa — could have resulted in the assassination of the two men.
The whistle-blowers‚ Thabiso Zulu and Les Stuta‚ testified before the Moerane commission of inquiry into political killings in KwaZulu-Natal in November last year.
In their testimony‚ they claimed Magaqa had passed documentation on to the Hawks that allegedly proved corruption in the tender for upgrading Umzimkhulu Memorial Hall‚ which ballooned from R4m to R37m.
Following death threats and a lack of action from the police‚ Zulu sought the intervention of the public protector.
This was followed by a threat assessment conducted by the State Security Agency in April‚ which found that Zulu and Stuta were being followed and were at risk.
The assessment advised that the two "urgently require protection from the state" and should be provided with "individual private protection".
Four months later‚ the police have still failed to provide security.
Mkhwebane warned this could have "dire consequences" that had been communicated to the police "on numerous occasions".
"The minister of police and the SAPS’s conduct in dealing with my request to provide protection to the two whistle-blowers can only be described as grossly negligent — and a slap in the face of the very people that members of SAPS are employed to protect‚" reads the report.
Mkhwebane said the conduct of the minister and the police constituted improper conduct‚ undue delay‚ gross negligence and maladministration.
As appropriate remedial action‚ the public protector has recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa reprimand Cele "for his lapses in judgment" regarding the police’s failure to provide protection for Zulu and Stuta.
To avert such incidents from happening in future‚ the report advises Ramaphosa to ensure ministers "take heed of the warnings of this nature to avoid catastrophic results that may occur due to lack of insight and nonaction by members of the executive who are responsible for various departments and other organs of state".
Zulu and Stuta would have to be "provided with the requisite security at state expense", said Mkhwebane.
Cele was also ordered to apologise to Zulu and Stuta‚ offer comprehensive reasons for the delay, and implement the recommendations of the threat assessment within seven days of the release of the report.
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