Trouble seems to follow National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
The airport “bomb threat” incident is only the latest in a series of controversies over the oft-robust actions of the police chief.
No sooner had Selebi been installed in 1999 than he was alleged to have called a sergeant a “chimpanzee” when the sergeant failed to recognise him. Another sergeant complained Selebi had intimidated him in a dispute over stolen maize cobs. The commissioner rode out the resultant storm.
Last year the Mail & Guardian recorded Selebi’s denials that he had “fled” the scene of the soccer stampede at Ellis Park, where he was a spectator, only to return later in a helicopter and berate other policemen for the way they handled the situation.
Earlier this year the M&G reported that Paul O’Sullivan, the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) group executive for aviation security, had lodged a complaint with the police oversight body, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), against Selebi.
O’Sullivan’s complaint was that Selebi had “intimidated” him and Mashudu Ramano, the Acsa chairperson, in a row over an airports security contract. Acsa terminated Khuselani Security and Risk Management’s R99-million contract last year, claiming the private security company was not performing adequately. Selebi denied allegations that he had intervened improperly to save Khuselani’s contract.
ICD spokesperson Steve Mabona this week said about O’Sullivan’s complaint: “We are still investigating.” O’Sullivan, however, said: “The ICD do not appear to have taken the matter any further. I am considering my options with a view to high court action.”