By Akani Nkuna
Police Portfolio Committee chairperson Ian Cameron has lashed out at the SAPS following the appointment of Major-General Patrick Mbotho as Divisional Commissioner within the Hawks while a cloud of corruption hangs above his head.
“From the committee’s side, we really want his appointment to be reviewed. I think it is not only an embarrassment to SAPS and to the Hawks. It is an embarrassment to us as a committee,” Cameron said during a committee meeting.
Mbotho allegedly has criminal links to the underworld. He is also accused of sharing inappropriate and explicit material on a detectives’ WhatsApp group while he was head of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.
The committee found his appointment appalling and questioned his integrity.
“Someone that sends pornography on a group in the SAPS as a commander of the FCS Unit, and within a year of that [incident] is promoted to the Major-General of the Hawks has doubtful integrity,” said Cameron said on Wednesday.
Lieutenant-General Dr Godfrey Lebeya, who is the head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, told the committee that Mbotho was subjected to rigorous processes in accordance with the police’s mandate regarding senior position appointments.
“[Mbotho] within the DPCI on the Major Generals, seniority wise he was the third… of those two who were senior to him, only one applied. In fact, all the provincial heads that are currently operating, [Mbotho] is the most senior,” he said.
Lebeya added that the North West performed exceptionally while Mbotho was the provincial head of police. It was number one in terms of criminal convictions in the country surpassing KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
“Mbotho has 38 years in the service and has [served] in different provinces… he has also got the [required] internal courses – fraud courses, organised crime courses. He also has Bachelor of Law degree” Lebeyaadded.
However, the committee was not moved by Mbotho’sCV.
“Mbotho has been repeatedly mentioned in a current extortion mafia case in court in the city of Cape Town since 2018… and that is the reason why we ask whether his reputation is beyond reproach,” said Cameron.
ActionSA’s Elana James said that “conduct and behaviour needs to be in alignment with qualifications, one cannot precede the other”.
uMkhonto weSizwe’s Mandla Skosana came out in defence of Mbotho’s appointment, saying that “with his commendable record… I guess that we have to give him a benefit of the doubt as there is no perfection in anyone here”.
The committee is due to meet again on Friday.
INSIDE POLITICS
