The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is close to signing an agreement with the SA Police Service (SAPS) to conduct lifestyle audits on more than 800 top cops, after damning allegations of senior officials on the payroll of criminal cartels emerged before the Madlanga commission of inquiry.
Senior police officials have been linked to high profile crime bosses linked to assassinations, corruption and rigged tenders before the Madlanga commission tasked to investigate allegations of corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system.
The SIU confirmed to Business Day that the discussions about a formal agreement with the SAPS are at an “advanced stage”, with the scope of the audit reduced to items flagged during an internal e-disclosure and lifestyle review conducted internally by the SAPS.
Lifestyle audits are the process of assessing if someone is living within or beyond his or her means when income and assets are combined over a period, SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said.
National police commissioner Fannie Masemola told parliament’s ad hoc committee probing the same allegations in his testimony two weeks ago that he had asked the SIU to “come and do lifestyle audits on everybody”.
“[It is] so that we can know who we are dealing with and who is clean and who is not clean, starting with myself,” he said in response to a question on public trust in the police by committee chair Soviet Lekganyane.
Deep-seated corruption
The Madlanga commission heard evidence from witnesses X and A in the past week.
Their testimony was heard in camera as their identities had to be withheld due to the sensitivity of their work and threats to their lives.
Evidence shared by both witnesses implicated senior police officials, including a deputy and a provincial commissioner, in criminal activity.
Masemola had told the ad hoc committee that the SIU lifestyle audits were part of an effort by the police to “cleanse ourselves” and ensure its senior leaders were “above board”.
“I know it’s not an overnight process but by making sure that we know who’s who … we will improve the morale in the organisation and it will also improve the trust outside [it],” Masemola said.
He said the service provider would be the SIU, which confirmed to Business Day that it had the capacity to conduct the complex audits. The plan had been hatched around April, Masemola said, and the two institutions had been in talks since.
The SIU will start with about 840 members of senior management, ranking from brigadier upward, with Masemola up first.
Once this group had been concluded, the SIU would target specific environments such as the central firearm registry, supply chain management, finance and ports of entry, Masemola said.
Deputy police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has been linked to murder accused Katiso Molefe by witness A.
‘Big Five’ cartels exposed
Molefe was described by crime intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo as the head of a criminal cartel that forms part of the “Big Five”.
The Big Five refers to the five cartel bosses under investigation by the police, with tentacles reaching deep into the criminal justice system, with links to politicians, police officials, prosecutors and even magistrates.
Policeman Michael Pule Tau is among those arrested for the murder of Armand Swart, an employee at a Vereeniging-based engineering company who had blown the whistle on alleged corruption in the supply of springs for logistics giant Transnet.
Molefe, who was arrested in December, is allegedly the mastermind behind the murder.
Witness A told the commission that top ranking officer in the National Organised Crime Unit Maj-Gen Richard Shibiri had attempted to bribe him and other investigators, the magistrate and the prosecutor to ensure that bail was granted to Tau.
The witness said he was invited to a party at a “white house on a hill” as a “plan to test” the investigators in the matter, to determine whether they were “open to influence”.
At a second party the investigation team was invited to, more senior SAPS officials were in attendance, including Gauteng provincial commissioner Tommy Mthombeni and deputy commissioner in Sedibeng Mbangwa Khwashu.
Testimony also implicated SAPS Maj-Gen Lesetja Senona and Ekurhuleni Metro Police head Julius Mkhwanazi for seeking financial benefit from attempted murder accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, also allegedly among the “Big Five” cartels identified by Khumalo.
The SIU has been used by other state entities to conduct lifestyle audits on its employees including the Housing Development Agency, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, the department of public works & infrastructure and the Gauteng Office of the Premier.
