{"id":9206,"date":"2019-07-02T15:36:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T13:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/?post_type=stories&#038;p=9206"},"modified":"2024-09-21T09:20:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T09:20:11","slug":"saps-wars-update-kzn-top-cop-post-suddenly-vacant-cape-general-earmarked-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/saps-wars-update-kzn-top-cop-post-suddenly-vacant-cape-general-earmarked-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"SAPS wars update: KZN top cop post suddenly \u2018vacant\u2019, Cape general \u2018earmarked\u2019 for it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KwaZulu-Natal is again without a permanent police leader and the Western Cape\u2019s policing head has been approached to fill this position in the latest round of chess-like manoeuvres to shake up the police service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Investigative journalism takes time and money. Help us do more. <a href=\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/be-an-amab-supporter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Be an amaB Supporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">National police commissioner Khehla Sitole on Tuesday announced that he had consulted with Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Khombinkosi Jula, who is currently on leave, to take up the post of heading up KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This consultation process is not yet finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minister Bheki Cele in Dec. 2018 announced Lt. General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as KZN&#8217;s permanent police chief (SABC Digital News).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I have approached General Jula about this deployment because firstly, the post of Provincial Commissioner remains vacant and secondly, General Jula emerges from the province of KwaZulu-Natal making him experienced to police KZN,\u201d Sitole said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He made the statement following news reports over the past few days saying that Jula had been removed \u2013 this in the wake of an apparent surge in gang-related violence in the Western Cape and as internal spats among officers have become even more apparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Read<\/strong>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/stories\/saps-wars-part-1-the-blurry-blue-line-between-the-cops-and-the-cape-underworld\/\">SAPS Wars Part 1: The blurry blue line between the cops and the Cape underworld<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the fate of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner is shrouded in mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In December last year police minister Bheki Cele announced the permanent appointment of Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who had previously filled the KZN post in an acting capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The previous permanent KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni resigned following her suspension based on suspicions of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In April amaBhungane asked national police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo to confirm Mkhwanazi\u2019s official appointment after a tip-off that it was never finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Naidoo did not respond. On Tuesday he declined to tell amaBhungane when Mkhwanazi\u2019s permanent appointment had been rescinded or what had led to the decision to remove him, thereby paving the way for Jula\u2019s possible appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Read<\/strong>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/stories\/saps-wars-part-3-bheki-cele-robert-mcbride-and-the-mysterious-mr-marimuthu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SAPS Wars Part 3: Bheki Cele, Robert McBride and the mysterious Mr Marimuthu<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat position in KZN is now vacant. General Mkhwanazi is there on an acting capacity. Things can change from time to time,\u201d Naidoo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mkhwanazi\u2019s name previously cropped up in a saga involving former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) head Robert McBride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to McBride, Mkhwanazi had held meetings with IPID staff to try and solicit information about high-level investigations the police watchdog was probing. He was regarded as a long-time ally of Cele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The minister\u2019s spokesperson Reneilwe Serero did not immediately have details about the decision to move Mkhwanazi from a permanent to an acting position, saying only that he currently filled the KwaZulu-Natal police chief role in an acting capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lt-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi is KZN&#039;s police commissioner\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mzN8nCl2-6Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Factionalism and infighting in the police has claimed more scalps with big changes in KwaZulu-Natal and a shake-up on the cards for the country\u2019s most gang-ravaged province, the Western Cape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21764,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[173,221,222,158,223],"class_list":["post-9206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-bheki-cele","tag-khombinkosi-jula","tag-nhlanhla-mkhwanazi","tag-saps","tag-saps-wars"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30333,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9206\/revisions\/30333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}