Crime Intelligence head Peter Jacobs is told he can return to work after months of fighting ‘suspension’

For almost three months SAPS Crime Intelligence (CI) head Peter Jacobs attempted to challenge a notice that he –  along with five senior colleagues – was being suspended for suspected personal protective equipment (PPE) fraud from the Secret Service Account. Jacobs was handed a suspension notice on 30 November 2020.

The CI head wrote lengthy communications to national police commissioner Khehla Sitole challenging the decision and setting out that he was being targeted as a result of his clean-up of the unholy mess at Crime Intelligence and because he was investigating senior officers.

“Credible evidence was available that the Account was looted by a number of CFOs and or Divisional Commissioners and other Senior Crime Intelligence Officers,” said Jacobs in a 42-page searing document contextualising what he found in the division when he took the helm in March 2018.

Minister of Police Bheki Cele tried to intervene in December 2020, requesting Sitole to halt all suspensions until Cele had received a final report on the alleged corruption from Inspector-General Setlhomamaru Dintwe as prescribed by the Intelligence Oversight Act.

Sitole brushed Cele’s concerns aside and fought hard to have the suspensions effected. Jacobs even took his fight to the Pretoria High Court but lost. Sitole was given the mandate to proceed.

Then, unexpectedly, on 27 January, Sitole wrote to Jacobs informing him that his suspension “shall end on 3 March 2021”. Daily Maverick has seen a copy of the communication.

“As you know, the employer, in accordance with Clause 4 of the Code of Good Practice; Schedule 8 to the Labour Relations Act, 1995, required an investigation into the alleged misconduct and [to] have the investigation processes completed without any unreasonable delay.

“In view of this particular aspect, it is my duty to inform you that the investigation into the matter against yourself is not complete.

“Having checked the facts, the prevailing circumstances and the law on the matter, I have decided to allow your suspension from the Service to continue for a period of thirty (30) calendar days. Accordingly your suspension shall end on 3 March 2021.”

Responding to questions from Daily Maverick, Brigadier Vish Naidoo, spokesperson for the national commissioner, said: “We have never confirmed or denied the suspension of General Jacobs or any other member with regards to PPE matters. 

“Whenever SAPS was questioned about this, our response was always that we do not discuss internal matters in the public domain. That being said, hypothetically speaking, if a suspension of a member is lifted for whatever reason, it will usually be done with immediate effect and never in advance, especially not two months in advance.”

What are we to make of it?

First, if the investigation was not complete, why act so hastily against Jacobs and his colleagues and at such expense?

Second, why did Dintwe write to Jacobs on 22 January 2021, more than a month AFTER his suspension, requesting Jacobs to “consult” with the inspector-general as “the investigation conducted by the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence (OIGI) into alleged irregularities in the South African Police Services Crime Intelligence (SAP-CI) is now in its final stage”.

Logic would suggest that the report that the inspector-general sent to Sitole and upon which he based his drastic suspensions was not complete and in fact was only a draft. Why else would Dintwe need to consult with Jacobs after the fact?

And why would Sitole act so hastily and double down when Jacobs challenged him on legal grounds?

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-01-03-jacobs-vs-sitole-legal-ping-pong-as-national-police-commissioner-doubles-down-on-suspensions/

Third, does Sitole’s acknowledgement that the inspector-general’s investigation was incomplete open the door to a later attempt to charge Jacobs?

In a matter of days in November and December 2020 the entire top leadership of CI including Jacobs, Brigadier Albo Lombard, SAPS section head Intelligence Planning and Monitoring; Colonel Isaac Walljee, acting section head: Supply Chain Management; Colonel Manogaran Gopal, section commander Vehicle Fleet Management and Asset Management Secret Services Account – Supply Chain Management; Major-General Maperemisa Lekalakala, acting component head and CFO Secret Services Account; and Colonel Bale Matamela, section commander Procurement Secret Services Account, were all suspended. 

Their notices were served by Lieutenant-General Johannes Riet, divisional commissioner Supply Chain Management.

Almost immediately, on 11 December 2020, Jacobs’ nemesis, Lieutenant-General Sindile Mfazi, the deputy national commissioner of Crime Detection, slipped into the hot seat and called a meeting of all CI provincial and component heads informing all that everyone would, from now on, be reporting to him.

Mfazi delegated the administrative responsibilities of CI to Major-General Feroz Khan, who was exposed in City Press in 2017 as having worked since 1997 without top-level security clearance.

Khan was once photographed proudly shaking hands with Jacob Zuma. In 2017 Khan skipped two ranks and went from a colonel to a major-general.

Jacobs had singled out Mfazi in his letter to Sitole and in court documents accusing Mfazi of “targeting”, threatening and bullying him.

One of the events in the lead-up to Jacobs’ suspension was an investigation he had ordered on 14 August 2020 into alleged misconduct by former KZN CI boss Major-General Deena Moodley as head of the Covert Intelligence Collection Component.

What is particularly puzzling is that Jacobs in January 2019 had written to Sitole, Deputy Commissioner Crime Detection Lieutenant-General Lebeoana Jacob Tshumane and Deputy National Commissioner Human Resources Lieutenant-General Bonang Mgwenya alerting top brass to a rogue Crime Intelligence Unit that was operating in the Western Cape and should be disbanded and criminally charged.