Officials at the police watchdog body, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), are circulating sexually explicit jokes about President Thabo Mbeki on the organisation’s internal e-mail system, a senior official of the ICD alleges.
The Cape Town daily, The Cape Argus, reported that the man had laid a formal complaint with the police, alleging the jokes were ”grossly disrespectful and amount to crimen injuria”.
One joke apparently referred to Mbeki seeking prostitutes in the grounds of the Union Buildings, and contained various obscenities. Others were cartoons of people having sex.
Omar Lalla, a long-serving employee in the Western Cape office of the ICD, said he had decided to blow the whistle on colleagues because the ICD ”should protect the dignity of women and children” and because it ”should never be involved in activities that undermine the dignity of the president”.
The city’s Afrikaans daily, Die Burger, reported that Mbeki’s spokesperson, Bheki Khumalo, said Mbeki had not seen the e-mails. Mbeki was in Mozambique on Wednesday for the inauguration of the new president and was expected to return home on Wednesday night.
”It is not necessary to show him the e-mails,” said Khumalo.
The office of the president was not planning to take any action against the individuals behind the e-mails, Die Burger added.
ICD spokesperson Steve Mabona said he had only heard of the e-mails on Wednesday.
”We are taking it very seriously,” he said. – Sapa