Jaspreet Kindra
Senior KwaZulu-Natal prisons official Philemon Ntuli, who has given testimony to the Jali commission implicating former provincial prison boss Russel Ngubo and other officials in crimes, says he is trying to rid the department and the African National Congress of “rotten apples”.
Ntuli is in hiding after claiming he has received death threats. This week he gave evidence implicating Ngubo and Nhlanhla Ndumo, the acting provincial director of human resources, in last year’s murder of KwaZulu-Natal prisons human resources head Thuthu Bhengu.
The commission, headed by Judge Thabani Jali, was appointed last year by President Thabo Mbeki to probe corruption, nepotism and maladministration in the Department of Correctional Services.
Over the past few weeks Ngubo, ll ll Ndumo and ll correctional services officer Thami Memela have been arrested by the Scorpions for the murder of Impendele induna Ernest Nzimande, an Inkatha Freedom Party member, and the attempted murder of three of Nzimande’s companions. Ngubo’s bail application hearing is on May 8.
The Mail & Guardian has reported extensively on the Scorpions’s probe into Ngubo’s alleged involvement in more than 30 murders. In the past Ngubo and Memela served as ANC councillors in Impendle.
Interviewed this week Ntuli said he received several death threats after he started to spill the beans on a plan called “Operation Quiet Storm” initiated by Ngubo and Ndumo and endorsed by the Prisons and Police Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in 1997. Ngubo was Popcru’s Midlands chairperson and Ndumo its secretary at the time.
The plan entailed the overthrow of the old guard management of “white reactionaries and their stooges” to make their positions available for black managers. As part of this Ntuli himself was chosen as provincial spokesperson, Ngubo as provincial inspectorate head and Ndumo as management services head.
The plan, he said, also identified Khulekani Sithole as national commissioner and Maxwell Ntoni as KwaZulu-Natal commissioner.
Ntuli has told the commission it soon began to surface that people in power were using their positions to appoint wives, other relatives and friends.
“People like Ngubo, Ndumo and Innocent Zulu [head of functional services of the department in KwaZulu-Natal] are a disgrace to the organisation of the ANC and the ruling alliance,” said Ntuli.
He disputed allegations that Ngubo’s political connections had prevented authorities from taking action against him: “Ngubo was a loose cannon, he was not acting at the behest of the party or the union any more he was doing his own thing.”
The department and the union suspended Ngubo in 1998 after he and his friends allegedly intimidated the then provincial commissioner, Thandiwe Kgosidintsi. A restraining and suspension order was issued against 34 employees after Kgosidintsi filed an affidavit in the Pietermaritzburg High Court claiming that Ngubo might kill her and even “lose his own life in the process”.
According to her affidavit she was forced to kneel and was verbally abused when 30 warders burst into her office. Against her will, Kgosi-dintsi was sent on leave and then replaced.
Ntuli this week gave evidence on the murder of provincial human resources head Bhengu, who last year was lured to a window while at home and shot dead.
According to his testimony, Bhengu and Ngubo had an altercation about the activities of a prison warden, Lucky Mpungose, who was also one of the wardens named in the Kgosi-dintsi affidavit.
Bhengu had allegedly called for disciplinary action against Mpungose because of his repeated absences from work.
Mpungose is one the five suspects charged with Bhengu’s murder.
Ntuli’s testimony on the matter is continuing.
Commission spokesperson Themba Rubushe said the inquiry would only complete its work in August next year. Given that it spent 10 weeks in Durban and only began hearings in Pietermaritzburg last week, it could be months before it moved to another province.
However, the commission is expected to submit an interim report on its findings in Durban. Based on these, legal and disciplinary action could follow.
Commenting on Ntuli’s testimony, Rubushe said that unless people came forward with “concrete proof” the department would not act.