KZN top cop reinstated on technicality

KWAZULU-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni was back in her office yesterday within hours of learning that she had been victorious in her court challenge to her bosses’ decision to suspend and discipline her.

“The provincial commissioner has reported for work today. She is not prepared to grant any interviews or comment at this stage. She is just relieved to be back at work,” spokesman Brigadier Jay Naicker told The Mercury.

Ngobeni was suspended in May because of her alleged corrupt relationship with Umhlanga businessman Thoshan Panday, who was once a suspect in connection with an SAPS tender fraud and who, it is alleged, paid for a surprise birthday party for Ngobeni’s husband, Lucas, a policeman.

Her suspension came after a decision taken in March to set up a board of inquiry to determine whether or not she was guilty of misconduct and was fit to hold office.

Victim

Ngobeni launched the Durban High Court application challenging acting national commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane’s and Police Minister Nathi Nhleko’s decisions, saying the allegations were old and untrue.

She described herself as “being in state of disgrace” and said she was a victim of “political manoeuvring and/ or ulterior motives”.

Judge Nkosinathi Chili, who heard argument in the matter, handed down judgment yesterday. He did not deal with the merits of the allegations against Ngobeni, but ruled in her favour on a “technical point” relating to an interpretation of some of the provisions of the SA Police Act.

He ruled that these had not been complied with. In particular, he said, the acting national commissioner ought to have obtained a notice of “no confidence” from the provincial executive council before setting up the disciplinary board.

He also noted that the constitution did not give the national commissioner “untrammelled powers to investigate and discipline the provincial commissioner” and set aside the decision to set up the board of inquiry and to suspend her.

The allegations she was to face at the inquiry dealt with the alleged benefit she received from Panday in the form of the surprise party. She denies this, saying she paid for it herself.

She was also to answer to an allegation that she instructed that a criminal investigation against Panday be stopped. This too, she said in her affidavit, was “absolute untruth”.

“I am a conscientious and diligent long-serving police officer and do not want to be paid to sit at home … while unfounded allegations against me go unchallenged,” she said.