Ivor Powell
In the latest development in a long- simmering dispute between the police and the Directorate of Special Prosecutions, Director Eric Nkabinde – second in charge of detectives in KwaZulu-Natal – is considering instituting legal action against Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Chris McAdam.
Nkabinde’s lawyer John Wills said his client is “considering what legal steps to take in order to clear his name”. Wills declined to comment further on the matter.
Nkabinde apparently believes there are attempts to discredit him – orchestrated in part by old-guard elements in the South African Police Service who were forced out of Richmond after the closure of the Richmond police station in the middle of last year.
The police station was closed amid allegations of corruption, incompetence and third force activity. There was also evidence that warlords in the area were working as agents of the security police.
The alleged vendetta against Nkabinde first came to light when a police informer confessed she had been paid by a senior detective dismissed from Richmond investigations, to falsely implicate him in alleged collusion with slain United Democratic Movement warlord Sifiso Nkabinde.
She was told to say she had observed the policeman secretly contacting Sifiso Nkabinde. The name of the informer and the policeman are known to the Mail & Guardian.
Sources close to the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions said McAdam has opened an investigation docket into alleged irregularities on the part of Eric Nkabinde in ongoing investigations into the Richmond violence. This flies in the face of earlier denials by the directorate.
Behind the latest contretemps lies a letter written by McAdam in June which indicated an intention to arrest Eric Nkabinde on charges including defeating the ends of justice and being an accessory after the fact in planting evidence.
McAdam has denied that he was intending to arrest Nkabinde, but the M&G has documentation which suggests otherwise.
In a memorandum to an advocate Venter, who was co-ordinating police participation in a high-level anti-terrorism training programme to be held in the United States in which Nkabinde was to take part, McAdam states: “Investigating Directorate of the National Prosecuting Authority is in the process of preparing to arrest Director Nkabinde.”
In the light of this, he argues, Nkabinde should be dropped from the list of participants in the training programme. This was done.
In an article in the M&G last month, freelance journalist Darren Morgan quoted Directorate of Public Prosecutions sources saying Nkabinde was alleged to have been party to the planting of evidence, and was also accused of defeating the ends of justice.
The allegations arise from an incident in which an unnamed official of the National Intelligence Agency acquired a weapon and handed it over to police detectives in charge of investigations into Richmond killings.
Nkabinde – without informing McAdam’s directorate – instructed police investigating officer Captain Sipho Mbele to send the weapon for ballistic testing.
The weapon was found to have been used in Richmond violence. It was apparently connected to the “Tavern massacre” in which eight people were mowed down while watching World Cup soccer in a Richmond hostel in July 1998.
Nkabinde is also accused of defeating the ends of justice by sitting on investigation dockets into Sifiso Nkabinde’s murder. Six arrests were made last month in connection with the killing.
More arrests could be in the pipeline. Reliable sources said McAdam has evidence implicating about 15 people in the shooting – though only three gunmen were directly involved in the hit.
At the centre of the alleged conspiracy to murder Sifiso Nkabinde is former African National Congress, then UDM self-defence unit, member Bruce Mhlongo, who was heard in various quarters to have boasted that he was the man who had killed Sifiso Nkabinde – and demanding a reward from the ANC.
Eric Nkabinde, however – according to a letter of complaint against the treatment of Nkabinde and certain of his colleagues written by violence monitor Mary de Haas to President Thabo Mbeki – was never involved in investigations in Richmond violence. As a blood relative of Sifiso Nkabinde, Eric Nkabinde has kept well clear of the investigation.
McAdam’s office referred enquiries to the national office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions. However, representative Sipho Ngwema said they were not in possession of documentation relevant to the issue – neither the letter written by McAdam, nor the De Haas letter – and he was therefore not in a position to comment.