Why is allegedly corrupt SAPS colonel still employed? – Zondo

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo wants National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole to explain why disgraced Colonel Navin Madhoe is still in the SA Police Service (SAPS).

Madhoe has been charged by Johan Booysen, former head of the KwaZulu-Natal Hawks, for planting R1.4 million in his car boot in an attempt to bribe him in August 2011.

Zondo’s instruction to the commission’s legal team to approach Sitole for an answer followed Booysen’s testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture yesterday.

Booysen said that despite the bribery attempt, “nothing has happened to Madhoe, which is of concern to me”.

According to Booysen, it happened during a sting operation in front of witnesses, was recorded on video and fingerprints were taken to back up the evidence.

Madhoe and wealthy Durban businessperson Thoshan Panday were under investigation for corruption and defeating the ends of justice.

Panday was also alleged to have attempted to bribe Booysen to thwart an investigation into a R60 million corruption case involving police officers being accommodated in Durban at hugely inflated costs during the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

He allegedly colluded with top police officers, including Madhoe, to inflate bills at hotels and bed and breakfast establishments by up to 400%.

Madhoe, who was head of procurement, falsified processes to ensure police accommodation deals were won by Panday-linked companies.

Under cross-examination by advocate Veruschka September, Booysen recounted how:

• Then acting national director of public prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba put pressure on prosecutors to mount a string of racketeering charges against him, which could not stick.
• Factually incorrect stories in the Sunday Times on his alleged role in the Cator Manor “police death squads” were used by his adversaries to blemish his record.

“I was suspended and faced up to eight criminal charges. All were thrown out by disciplinary hearings and courts.”

He said some prosecutors enabled state capture.

“It was the same prosecutors who became responsible for the withdrawal of charges against people we investigated.”

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