/ 7 April 2000

Bad egg survives shake-up

A controversial top policeman at Chatsworth police station managed to escape this week’s shake-up

Paul Kirk

A senior policeman at the notorious Chatsworth police station has been running a private security company from the station and extorting protection money out of local schools.

Inspector Gregory Naidoo has been charging R1E600 a shift to schools in need of security, running the private business on police time. Apart from his security business, Naidoo also recently caused a stir by warning that critics of the Chatsworth police station risked being shot by irate police officers piqued at the criticism leveled against them.

Naidoo is one of the few senior policemen at the station to have held his position after the South African Police Service removed 16 officers in a purge of senior management. The shake-up followed allegations of widespread corruption at the station, which was singled out by Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who said at the weekend “corruption at Chatsworth police station is a frightening situation. Very frightening indeed”. Zuma chastised the station for its handling of the tear gas attack that killed 13 children at a neighbouring nightclub.

The station – and Naidoo in particular – has been at loggerheads with the Chatsworth Community Policing Forum, which has publicly rubbished the police station as corrupt and incompetent.

Last week Naidoo infuriated the policing forum when he threatened that police at the station were so highly stressed that they may “pick up an R-1 rifle and shoot 10 or 15 members of the public.” The outburst came as Naidoo handed over a memorandum to police management complaining about the bad publicity his station had been receiving.

The memorandum was compiled by Chatsworth policemen after the Community Policing Forum staged a march on the police station to complain about rampant corruption. Among the placards the marchers carried were Mail & Guardian posters reporting how Chatsworth policemen bludgeoned a destitute deaf mute to death because he had tried to shelter from the rain in their charge office.

This week it emerged Naidoo has been using his position to coerce security contracts out of school principals and hospital superintendents in his area.

Documents in possession of the M&G show that, until February this year, Naidoo was the operations director of Chatsworth Community Protection Services. He held this post in violation of police standing orders that require policemen to obtain permission before involving themselves in private business enterprises.

He also operated the business from the police station and solicited business during office hours. He gave customers his telephone number at the police station and used police vehicles to solicit business.

Logan Naidu of the Chatsworth Community Policing Forum expressed amazement that Naidoo had escaped the clean-up of the station. “We need this man investigated. Our members have received regular death threats and last week this police officer made threats against us in public.”

Contacted for comment on the allegations against him, Naidoo would only say: “No comment. Speak to the commissioner. I will not say anything.”

Naidoo’s business partner, marketing director Lawrence Samson, initially denied Naidoo was in any way involved in the business.

When informed that the M&G had documents proving he was, Samson said: “I did not say he was never involved a long time ago.”

When the M&G pointed out that the documents were only a month old, Samson said: “He was signing for his wife, on her behalf. She is a shareholder in this business and she was operations director. We created that portfolio for her.”

However the documents in possession of the M&G clearly show Gregory Naidoo, and not his wife, to be the operation director. Samson could not say what security qualifications Inspector Naidoo’s wife had.

The M&G is also in possession of a list of Chatsworth Community Protection Service’s clients. Those contacted by the M&G confirmed Naidoo visited them when they signed contracts. None had ever met his wife.

Among the many contracts the moonlighting policeman obtained were those from schools. For the special rate of R1E600 per shift Naidoo would provide schools with one security officer to police the grounds.

One schoolteacher told an amazing tale of how the policeman secured the contract. “The week before he came we were robbed and it took nearly six hours for the police to arrive. Naidoo got the contract by demonstrating how well connected his company was. He made a call on his cell and a van was around here in less than five minutes. We were amazed. We never thought the police could move so fast.” This marketing ploy was confirmed by Naidu.

Naidu told the M&G that his forum had made numerous complaints about this matter and others, and nothing ever happened. “Policemen work in illegal casinos, they serve liquor to the under-aged in night clubs, they work as bouncers in illegal night clubs. They do everything but work. It is so sad that only now, after all the robberies, after all the murders and the death of 13 of our children, has anyone acted.”