Cabinet’s approval of a second KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss has come under fire with the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday labelling the appointment irregular and a move to settle political scores.
Cabinet announced on Thursday that it had approved the appointment of Major General Isaiah Jabulani Zikhali to the same position that the currently suspended Johan Booysen currently occupies.
“This smacks of irregularity and is a yet another twist in the political plot to get rid of Major-General Johan Booysen at all costs. This is because Booysen remains on suspension as the KZN Hawks Head following multiple failed attempts at a political witch hunt, lasting years and costing taxpayers more than R1.7 million due to vexatious litigation,” said DA Zakhele Mbhele.
Zikhali was appointed to the position earlier this year by Mthando Berning Ntlemeza, the controversial head of the National Directorate for Priority Investigation (commonly known as the Hawks), even though Booysen had not been fired or moved to another position.
Zikhali’s appointment has never been described as an acting appointment and neither did the Cabinet Statement released on Thursday describe his appointment as an acting position.
Mbhele said that he would request that police minister Nathi Nhleko be summonsed to appear before the portfolio committee on police to explain the appointment of Zikhali.
“With each day it becomes more and more apparent that Ntlemeza, at the behest of Nhleko, is using the Hawks to settle political scores and to intimidate those who would speak the truth about corruption to those in power,” said Mbhele.
Booysen was never fired but suspended over corruption and racketeering allegations that he ran a death squad while heading up the Cato Manor Serious and Violent Crimes Unit.
Booysen has already had the charges, which were initiated by then acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Nomgcobo Jiba, thrown out of the Durban High Court by Judge Trevor Gorven in February 2014.
Booysen was then suspended by Ntlemeza just days of his appointment as the national head of the Hawks.
Ntlemeza claimed Booysen and the men tasked with investigating a police officer’s assassination fraudulently received a monetary reward for shooting dead six innocent men.
This too was thrown out of the Durban High Court, with Judge Anton van Zyl saying there was not a shred of evidence and lambasted Ntlemeza’s conduct.
In February this year Shaun Abrahams, the current head of the National Prosecuting Authority, reinstated the exact same charges that Judge Gorven had thrown out.
Attempts to contact Musa Zondi, spokesman for police minister Nathi Nhleko were unsuccessful.
Asked whether the Hawks were now appointing two people to the same post – Booysen and Zikhali – Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, Hawks spokesman, said on Thursday that Booysen was never appointed to the position.
“He was acting head of the Hawks. There was never such a structure. He was never appointed.”
However, Booysen disputed Mulaudzi’s comments.
“It was advertised as Head of the HAWKS KZN. I applied for the post. I was shortlisted interviewed and appointed,” said Booysen.
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