Acting national police commissioner, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, hinted on Thursday to MP’s that police had been instructed on which cases were “off limits” to them. He said this was something that was happening a lot “of late”, and that the instructions came from “powers beyond us”.

General Mkhwanazi told MP’s on Parliament’s police committee on Thursday that:

We have been told in many instances of late that we don’t have rights to investigate certain case dockets.

General Mkhwanazi made his remarks during the third day of questioning by MP’s on Parliament’s police committee on Thursday.

Mkhwanazi was being questioned about the poor criminal conviction rates when he made the claim.

He said that many times “of late”, the police were told they did not have the right to investigate some cases, and that they should be referred to the inspector-general of intelligence, Faith Radebe.

The media, and others, have speculated there was a link between General Mkhwanazi’s comments, and the recent charges of fraud and murder that were dropped against controversial police crime intelligence boss, Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli.

Mdluli’s story reads like a chapter from a fictional novel:

Mdluli is tipped to become the country’s next police commissioner after fraud and murder charges against him were dropped two months apart, amid reports of top-level political pressure on the NPA and the Inspector General of Intelligence Faith Radebe to let him off the hook.

He was reinstated as head of the Crime Intelligence Division (CID) after the NPA dropped fraud charges against him relating to the alleged abuse of the police’s service account.

Along with Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and CID finance chief Solly Lazarus, he was accused of sanctioning the abuse of millions of rands from the account for private ends.

Facing mounting pressure on the matter, Mthethwa [last Monday] referred the claims that he abused R200 000 in police intelligence funds to refurbish his house to the Auditor General.

Mdluli has been dogged by murder charges relating to the killing of a love rival in 1999. But in February, the NPA withdrew charges against him and three others stemming from the death of Oupa Ramogibe, and established an inquest to determine whether the state had enough evidence for a trial.

The inquest heard [last] week that key evidence in the case had been destroyed.

Acting National Prosecuting Authority head, Nomgcobo Jiba, responded to the prior speculation and said last Tuesday that:

There is no instruction that has been given to any deputy Director of Public Prosecutions or any other person to withdraw the charges against General Mdluli.

It will be a sad day in the country if we take our decisions because of political pressure.

But it just got spicier for Mdluli: a high profile lawyer, Muzi Sikhakhane, acting in a matter against Mdluli – and who is coincidentally part of Julius Malema’s legal team too, as well as that of Tokyo Sexwale’s – said this morning he could not reveal which documents were stolen from his Northcliff home during a burglary at the weekend.

The robbers broke into Sikhakhane’s home on Sunday morning while he was at church, and immediately ascended upon his study, where they searched through drawers and removed documents and books.

The robbers made off with other valuables like a Range Rover, a Golf, and some TV’s, but Sikhakhane didn’t believe it was an ordinary break-in. A person who was in the house during the robbery, and who immediately hid when they’d heard the robbers enter, said the robbers immediately made their way up the stairs and to the back of the house where Sikhakane’s study was.

They went straight to my study. It’s not the usual things that people take. I would not like to speculate which of my controversial matters may be the issue.

Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Tshisikhawe Ndou said that, “We don’t want to draw inferences which are unsubstantiated,” but speculation is bound to continue amongst opposition political parties and the media that General Mkhwanazi’s claims should be investigated.

Gauteng police are investigating the theft.

[Sources: BusinessDay, EWN, IOL, News24]