Paul Kirk
One of KwaZulu-Natal’s senior military intelligence operatives has dodged an order banning him from living on army premises after being accused of running a brothel from his barracks.
According to a senior South African National Defence Force (SANDF) officer, Captain Dumisane Thango was banned from army premises in November 1999 after he was accused of running a brothel on the premises in Pietermaritzburg, and smuggling liquor into the camp to sell to soldiers.
But at Christmas time, Thango persuaded the Group 9 military base to allow him back, claiming that he had been shot at by a jealous husband and that his life was in danger. Thango was told he was seen as such a bad influence on discipline that he was only allowed to stay in barracks for 20 days, but he has yet to move out.
The SANDF source says that since Thango’s return to barracks soldiers have made numerous complaints about how he throws regular all-night parties at which copious amounts of liquor are consumed and large numbers of civilians are in attendance.
When the Mail & Guardian attempted to contact Thango he could not be found by his own troops. However, the M&G has been reliably informed that since an army car disappeared from his possession in as yet unexplained circumstances last week he has not been seen on base.
Military intelligence unit at Group 9 is the same unit that employed Captain Gracious Shoba who, as the M&G reported last week, held meetings with Bob Ndlovu, a notorious Richmond killer while he was being pursued by the police. Shoba was recently transferred out of the province.
Meanwhile, a senior Durban policeman has returned to work at the commercial crime unit a week after being arrested for alleged corruption and extortion.
In August last year, Inspector Derek Mdikane was arrested and charged with armed robbery for his involvement in a car hijacking. Mdikane was released on bail and the charges dropped when the complainant could not be found.
Last week Mdikane was arrested again, this time for corruption and extortion.
The charges relate to an incident in which Mdikane allegedly demanded money from suspects in exchange for him agreeing to release them on bail.
One of the suspects went to the anti- corruption unit and Mdikane was filmed in action as he spoke to his victim and accepted money. After his arrest Mdikane was released on bail.
Asked to comment, Mdikane said he chose not to, but would rather concentrate on winning his court case and “trying to improve my game of golf. It really has suffered with all this stress.”