/ 19 January 2017

How the Ipid raid on Phahlane’s house fits into the bigger picture

Acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane has been under investigation following a complaint lodged a year ago by private forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan.
Acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane has been under investigation following a complaint lodged a year ago by private forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s (Ipid) raid on acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane’s house is not an isolated event. It’s only been a few months since Robert McBride returned to his role as executive director of Ipid, but already he’s showing the police ministry – and Police Minister Nathi Nhleko in particular – what is to come.

Police headquarters are scheduled to respond officially to the raid at the home of Phahlane this afternoon. Ipid officers pounced on Phahlane’s multimillion-rand mansion in an exclusive estate in Pretoria to execute a search warrant. The Mail &Guardian has been told that the officers were there to “catalogue” the contents of his home, which are valued at around R8-million.

Phahlane has been under investigation following a complaint lodged a year ago by private forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan into how the country’s top cop had managed to fund the development of his cluster home.

The investigation, however, is also part of an ongoing battle between McBride and Nhleko.

The clash of law enforcement
McBride, who had been suspended by Nhleko in March 2015, returned to Ipid in November last year. The suspension came after McBride was accused of altering a report on the alleged rendition of five Zimbabwean nationals in 2010. But a year later, the charges against him were withdrawn and the Constitutional Court found that his suspension had been invalid and was set aside.

McBride hit back at Nhleko, accusing him of belonging to a so-called “engine room”: a group of high-profile figures in the security cluster who are loyal to President Jacob Zuma. The group includes Nhleko, Hawks head Lieutenant General Berning Ntlemeza, South African Revenue Service commissioner Tom Moyane, National Prosecuting Authority head Shaun Abrahams and State Security Minister David Mahlobo. He made the remark in December, shortly after it emerged that Gauteng Hawks head Major General Prince Mokotedi laid nine charges against McBride, which included treason and conspiracy to commit murder.

“It is no secret that the minister of police has been persistent in trying to get rid of me and keep me from returning to my job. The Hawks have been useful tools in that quest,” said McBride.

Nhleko’s suspension of McBride provoked strong reaction from opposition parties, with the Democratic Alliance describing the suspension as “a witch-hunt to rid himself of those who conduct investigations that are too sensitive and threaten the ANC’s patronage” and calling for Nhleko to resign.

The Freedom Front Plus described the spat as “arm-wrestling between the minister and the head of Ipid”. 

The investigation into Phahlane’s home has already deepened the tension between the two law enforcement heads. In December, shortly after news broke that Phahlane was being investigated, Nhleko said claims that Phahlane could not afford the home were premature.

“That’s a very subjective way of dealing with issues. There has got to be a scientific way to deal with whether the house you own was built through the proceeds of crime. They can’t just look at your place and decide that you must have stolen money to buy your property,” he said. 

The investigation into Phahlane
The main focus of the raid on Phahlane’s home on Thursday was to search for a state-of-the-art surround sound system believed to be worth R80 000.

O’Sullivan again wrote to Ipid in November and a copy of his statement reads: “I am the complainant in an investigation under Ipid case nr …. The case is a matter in which serious corruption is alleged against the acting commissioner of police Lieutenant General Phahlane.”

He said the allegations related to the financing of the construction of Phahlane’s home at Sables Hills Waterfront Estate.

In the statement, O’Sullivan provided details of a meeting with a potential witness who he had allegedly provided with information about large sums of cash Phahlane allegedly handed the potential witness in either “Checkers or Spar carrier bags” during the construction of Phahlane’s home.

Although O’Sullivan first filed the complaint against Phahlane in January last year, the case only gained momentum in November when McBride returned as head of the unit after his illegal suspension.

Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini declined to answer questions about the raid, saying the unit would not comment on ongoing cases.

He was summoned to Ipid earlier today to receive a warning statement for allegedly having interfered with a witness in the case. – Additional reporting by Jessica Bezuidenhout