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Former head of the Hawks, Berning Ntlemeza, reported for duty at the Hawks head office in Pretoria this morning, despite being dismissed for being appointed unlawfully.
This comes after Police Minister Fikile Mbalula appointed Lieutenant-General Yolisa Matakata as the acting head two weeks ago.
Read: Ntlemeza: I’m going to work tomorrow
In response to Ntlemeza’s relentlessness, the Democratic Alliance’s MP Zakhele Mbhele has led a picket outside the hawks office, calling for the end of Ntlemeza’s influence on the Hawks.
“If Ntlemeza continues this threat, the minister of police needs to be proactive and implement a suspension on him by auctioning the police act,” Mbhele told City Press.
Mbhele said that the DA would also ask the minister to request the portfolio committee to implement Ntlemeza’s suspension.
“While it appears that Ntlemeza filed for leave to appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday, Minister Fikile Mbalula can and must use his power in terms of the South African Police Services Act and suspend Ntlemeza,” the DA said this morning.
Ntelemeza’s lawyer, Comfort Ngidi, said that he would be approaching the Supreme Court of Appeal to appeal a high court ruling that found Ntlemeza’s appointment unlawful and invalid.
Attached to the application is a 69-page affidavit by Ntlemeza through which he hopes the court will find enough reasons to grant him leave to appeal last month’s judgment setting aside his appointment, which led to his axing two weeks ago.
Ntlemeza explains in his affidavit that his woes emanate from a legal wrangle with former Gauteng Hawks boss Shadrack Sibiya, whom he had suspended before he was permanently appointed.
Sibiya successfully challenged his suspension.
The court found Ntlemeza had lied under oath and was “dishonest”, but thereafter, former police minister Nathi Nhleko permanently appointed him as head of the Hawks, prompting the Helen Suzman Foundation and Freedom Under Law to approach the courts seeking his removal from office.
