One of the police’s top brass was arrested in a predawn raid by the prosecuting authority’s Investigating Directorate (ID) on Monday in relation to a multimillion-rand tender for blue lights, upping the fight against corruption within the ranks of law enforcement.
Lt-Gen Bonang Mgwenya, deputy national commissioner for human resources management at the SA Police Service (SAPS) appeared in the Palm Ridge magistrate’s court on Monday on charges of corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering.
Hermione Cronje, head of the investigating directorate, said they were “working hard to clean up law enforcement so that South Africans can be assured that those charged with the responsibility to protect and serve the nation are in fact doing so and not themselves breaking the law.”
Mgwenya is suspect number 13 in the case in which her co-accused include former national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane and former Gauteng police commissioner Deliwe de Lange. Nine of the 13 suspects are policemen and women, the office of the national police commissioner said on Monday.
Her co-accused were arrested in March 2019 after an investigation by the police’s watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
After years in which law enforcement was seen to be compromised and influenced by the phenomenon of state capture, one of the focuses of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and its investigating directorate is to prosecute corruption within the ranks of law enforcement.
Sindisiwe Twala, spokesperson for the investigating directorate said Mgwenya’s arrest and appearance related to the supply of emergency warning equipment, or so-called blue lights, for SAPS vehicles in 2016 and 2017.
Twala said the contract price and exposure to the police department was R191m. She said R65m was paid to the service provider, Instrumentation for Traffic Law Enforcement, while the payment of R22m was stopped at an advanced stage of the Ipid’s probe into the matter. The police officials all stand accused of colluding with the service provider and sole director of Instrumentation, Vimpie Manthatha.
The collusion was allegedly to ensure that the company owned by Manthatha was awarded a contract to install 1,550 police motor vehicles with warning lights at a grossly inflated price.
Mgwenya allegedly played a role in ensuring the contract went to the service provider, without disclosing the close relationship she had with Manthatha.
Twala said among other benefits, Manthatha allegedly assisted Mgwenya with purchasing a BMW X5 from Zambesi Auto Motors by paying R440,000 towards the purchase and negotiated a discount of R284,580 on the vehicle with Zambesi Auto.
She said these benefits put Mgwenya in a position to apply for a loan of R255,990 to finance the purchase of the BMW X5 retailed at R1,040,570. She said Mgwenya failed to disclose these benefits to her employer.
Police commissioner Khehla Sitole said in a statement released by his office that “nobody” was above the law.
“My position regarding criminality by members within the ranks of the SAPS has been made clear by the arrest of a multitude of SAPS members by a task team reporting to me on investigations into vehicle-marking tender fraud as well as our support to the ID in respect of the blue-light tender fraud investigation”, Sitole said.
Mgwenya was released on bail of R20,000 on Monday afternoon. TimesLIVE reported that Mgwenya indicated in her bail application that she intends to plead not guilty to all the charges.
The trial is set to take place between November 16 and December 10.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.