Rail safety boss ‘abused’ journo’s phone records to find whistleblowers – report

Journalist Athandiwe Saba’s relentless pursuit of alleged maladministration at the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) reportedly resulted in the now suspended chief executive Nkululeko Poya allegedly seeking out and obtaining the reporter’s private cellphone records in an illegal manner.

Suspended Rail Safety Regulator CEO Nkululeko Poya. RSR Website.

The Mail & Guardian reports that its employee became the target of an internal attempt within the RSR to determine who had been communicating with Saba and to use that information to try to smoke out whistleblowers.

Recently, TimesLive also reported on how Poya had allegedly spied on his fellow board members, an allegation he denied.

Poya contracted a private investigator who emailed an “intelligence report” that tried to uncover Saba’s sources from the RSR for the month of July 2016, which resulted in an article that exposed Poya as being part of a scam in which the state agency’s equipment was used to deliver ANC T-shirts.

M&G is in possession of a commissioned report on Saba dated the same day as the email from the private investigator and a subpoena for Saba’s cellphone records, signed by a Pinetown magistrate in August 2016.

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An investigating officer at Hillcrest Police Station in KwaZulu-Natal indicated on the section 205 form that Saba was supposedly a suspect in a housebreaking and theft case, which was the basis for a subpoena to MTN and Vodacom.

MTN is said to have indicated a willingness to pursue criminal charges against those who solicited the supboena to release confidential cellphone records of a journalist under alleged false pretences.

Once the magistrate signed off on the request, the two network providers handed over documents to the police showing exactly who Saba had been speaking to when she made and received calls, including text messages. Two months later, these personal details formed part of an RSR ‘Intelligence Report’ naming “suspects” who were thought to be Saba’s sources.

A police officer who assisted in bringing the case to prosecutors is said to have claimed he did not know Saba was a journalist. He told the Mail & Guardian a case of fraud could be opened against the police with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) for falsely accusing the journalist of housebreaking.

KZN police have since launched an investigation after receiving queries from the publication, with spokesperson Jay Naicker stating: “Although at this stage we cannot confirm or deny the involvement of any member, we regard these allegations as extremely serious, and detectives from the provincial commissioner’s office have been tasked with investigating this matter.”

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Poya, who was placed on precautionary suspension by then transport minister Joe Maswanganyi in December pending an investigation into his conduct as CEO, denied having anything to do with the report: “I did not even see the report. I have no idea what report you are talking about.”

For cellphone records to be obtained from a service provider, a case has to be opened with the police, who must then compile a section 205 application under the Criminal Procedure Act to compel a service provider to release the information to authorities. The application must include a sworn affidavit by a police investigating officer and a copy of the full docket. If satisfied, the prosecutor will hand it to a magistrate.

The agency’s spokesperson Madeleine Williams told the Mail & Guardian the board had never authorised any such action against journalists and that these allegations would now form part of an investigation against Poya.