Embattled Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride will be given ”time off” pending the outcome of a court case against him.
Ekurhuleni mayor Duma Nkosi would not be drawn on whether McBride would be suspended or given paid or unpaid leave.
”I have to clarify whether to call it suspension or leave. I’ve taken a view that it will be proper to say that the chief of police will not be at work,” he told a media briefing in Germiston on Saturday.
Deputy city manager Mkhabela Sibeko will take over McBride’s position until November when the case against the police chief has been set down for trial.
McBride was granted bail of R1 000 in the Pretoria regional court on Friday.
He faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, defeating the ends of justice and fraud.
The defeating the ends of justice charge includes an allegation that McBride told witnesses at the scene of an accident that he was only the passenger of the crashed vehicle and that he had instructed one of his subordinates to remove him from the scene before the police arrived.
”The accused requested Dr Inbanathan Sagathevan, a medical doctor, to draw blood from Mr Stanley Albert Gonaseelan Segathevan and to send it for alcohol analysis under the accused’s name,” according to the charge sheet.
It also claimed that McBride for the most part of this year had tried to induce several doctors to issue false medical certificates saying that he was sober at the time of the accident.
McBride had apparently asked Dr Sagatheven to give him notes stating that his medication for diabetes had been increased shortly before the accident in December.
He allegedly then took these notes to a chemical pathologist in KwaZulu-Natal, who issued a report saying he might have suffered from hypoglycaemia.
McBride also apparently instructed three of his officers — Stanley Segathevan, Patrick Johnston and Itumeleng Koko — to sign affidavits stating that he was sober at time of the crash.
The three are the same officers who earlier this month in the Johannesburg High Court were granted an interim order against McBride and several other officers, preventing them from intimidating them.
‘Trial by media’
Commenting on the charges and his court appearance, McBride told the briefing: ”I’m thankful for it and welcome it. … The last seven months have been a trial by media.”
”The magistrate will make [a] decision and I will reconcile and accept any outcome.”
McBride also faces alternative charges of reckless or negligent driving, conspiracy and incitement.
The charges relate to a motor accident in December last year near Centurion in Pretoria.
Nkosi expressed concern over the negative light that the McBride matter had shed over the metro police.
”I’m very concerned … but I do think it’s [the action taken] decisive enough. It’s very deliberate.”
”I don’t think it will be proper for him to be at work.”
Nkosi said he will liaise with the municipality’s legal department to decide on a correct description of McBride’s absence from work. – Sapa