Mahlabe has allegedly approved overtime for nine security officials, at an additional 84 hours per month, to guard his private home.
The DA in Ekurhuleni claim that Mahlabe already has five guards patrolling his private residence, also that the Police Chief has tasked the security officers to take his wife to the doctor and to take his children to school on a regular basis.
The DA said it will insist that Community Safety MEC, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, investigate his conduct as a matter of urgency.
EMPD spokesperson Wilfred Kgasago said a decision to come up with security measures intended for protecting the chief of police was not a whimsical feeling out of the blue.
“As a law enforcement agency, it is our responsibility to ensure that the operational officers as well as all those who are at all levels of management are equitably safe.
“Processes were undertaken to detect risks to which the chief of police would possibly be exposed to by virtue of his position, as well as due to the noteworthy impact he has already made in a short space of time to criminality in Ekurhuleni since taking the reins at EMPD,” said Kgasago.
Kgasago said the chief of police is protected by internal security because his work of fighting crime inherently requires such.
“The internal security personnel have to work shifts and overtime as this is a requirement of the service.”
Kgasago added that the security arrangements in place, which are purported to be excessive, are in the contrary, absolutely not, as based on the outcome of the threat assessments conducted.
“Managing the probable risks detected is in the EMPD’s domain.”
He said officers work overtime because of the nature of their responsibilities in fulfilling the mandate with which the EMPD is charged.
“Each and every officer at EMPD is on stand-by 24/7, regardless of whether they are on leave or off shift.
“They can be called upon at any time to resume duties, depending on what the prevailing circumstances dictate.
“The queer accusations levelled against the chief of police, the man who continually rolls up his sleeves and joins the officers on the ground in fighting crime, are completely devoid of the truth,” Kgasago said.
