WeeklySA_AdminJUSTICE: Explosive claims by a suspended police commissioner have reopened old wounds of corruption, political killings and vanishing dockets — but lingering silences and selective disclosures raise as many questions as they answer…
By Sekola Sello
The revelations made by suspended Mpumalanga police commissioner Daphney Semakaleng Manamela have not come as a surprise to observers of political and criminal happenings in this province.
Manamela accused National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola of taking a bribe of about two and half million Rands. She also accused former Police Minister Bheki Cele of interfering in police investigations.
Manamela goes on to allege that some of her colleagues in the province have “disappeared” dockets in order to thwart investigations.
Her allegations are in some respects similar to the explosive claims made by her KwaZulu-Natal counterpart Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in July last year.
Given the fact that Manamela is making these claims nearly three years after she was placed on suspension and she is still to face disciplinary action, some sceptics are questioning the truthfulness of her charges.
There is some validity to some of the questions made against Manamela. However, there is no denying that Mpumalanga is known to be a cesspit of various types of crimes involving the police and politicians.
They ask why she did not make her claims before Mkhwanazi or at the most soon after those made by her KwaZulu-Natal colleague to give greater credence to claims of police corruption.
A number of people have been assassinated in what is generally suspected to be politically motivated killings. In a majority of cases the killers are never apprehended and in the few instances where suspects are arrested, they are never convicted.
Among startling allegations that Manamela made is that police officers are involved in trafficking women into Gauteng.
She says that she will reveal the identities of these culprits later as well as the people behind the stealing of coal and diesel in the province. The theft of coal and diesel is costing the state millions of rands.
She has also accused one senior policewoman of being involved in illegal mining activities. She has mentioned her and promised to reveal more.
While Mkhwanazi was bold enough to state that some members of the judiciary were involved in colluding with criminals in Gauteng and that the names of these individuals will be made public in due course, Manamela has surprisingly not indicated whether she will reveal any big fish.
To my surprise and utter disbelief, she did not allude even indirectly to one individual whose name has been linked to the corruption and political killings in the province – the late David Mabuza.
Mabuza, the former Deputy President of the country who died from an undisclosed illness last year aged 64, has been the central figure in many of the scandals in the province since the dawn of democracy in the country.
He was Deputy President to Cyril Ramaphosa between 2018 to 2023. Before he was elevated to this position, he had previously been MEC for education, housing, roads and transport. He was Premier between 2009 and 2018.
It was during his tenure as MEC and later Premier that he was linked to claims of assassinations and large-scale corruption.
Manamela alleges that Masemola and another high-ranking police officer shared five million Rands which they had received as a bribe from Bobby Motaung, the son of Kaizer Chiefs founder Kaizer Motaung.
Motaung and five other alleged accomplices were charged with fraud, forgery and using a fake council letter in order to obtain a one million Rand overdraft loan during a tender bid for the building of the Mbombela Stadium in 2007. The 43000 capacity stadium was built at a cost of just over one billion Rand.The case against Motaung and the five others was abandoned by the National Prosecuting Authority due to several delays and postponements as well as other complications.
According to Manamela, the Kaizer Chiefs manager also feared that should the case against him be reopened it could also lead to potentially an even more serious charge being laid against him – the unsolved murder of whistleblower Jimmy Mohlala.
Mohlala, who was a Speaker of the Mbombela Municipality, was shot dead on the eve of laying criminal charges against people he believed were involved in corruption concerning the Mbombela Stadium tender. Two police officers were charged with this killing but the case against them was later dropped.
While Motaung and the five others were charged with fraud, the name of Mabuza was always looming large in the background. In fact, the rumour mill was full of dark whispers that Mabuza had received massive kickbacks over the Mbombela Stadium tender and that he was deeply implicated in the killing of Mohlala.
Manamela cannot claim to be unaware of these rumours which link Mabuza to the rot that has afflicted this province for decades.
This is the synopsis of some of the things he was alleged to have done but was never charged:
* He was implicated in a R35-billion restitution land scam,
* Even the New York Times launched an investigation into allegations of criminality against him. The United States publication concluded that he siphoned education funds, created ghost schools and inflated amounts of tenders. All this was done to get money to buy political loyalty.
* A foundation registered to his name was given a donation of thirty million Rand by a US company General Electric via Eskom. It appears that General Electric were unaware that the foundation belonged to Mabuza.
* His name has been linked to the assassinations of prominent politicians in the province such as Mohlala, Sammy Mpatlanyane and a few others. Mpatlanyane was killed after refusing to sign off irregular tenders.
* An estimated fourteen million Rand was allegedly stolen at his farm in Barberton. He never disputed this claim and the question that was asked at the time was why he kept such a huge amount of cash on his farm.
Although these incidents happened many years ago and Mabuza is dead, South Africans deserve to know the truth, especially the families of Mohlala and Mpatlanyane.
Therefore, when Manamela held her press briefing in Mbombela on April 19, the expectation was that she would shed light on these killings and other crimes committed in the province.
I accept that she may not be a native of Mpumalanga but given her exalted position as provincial commissioner she must be aware of all the allegations swirling around the head of Mabuza. She was appointed to her position in 2021 and suspended in 2023. I think this was enough time to understand the lay of the land.
I hope she will be called to appear before the Madlanga Commission. And hopefully she will be able to shed light on what Mabuza did during his tenure as MEC and Premier.
Manamela is suspended over allegations of abuse of power, maladministration, mismanagement and nepotism.
Things are not looking good for Masemola. He appeared in court on April 21 on a charge related to the violation of the Public Finance Management Act. The NPA is now considering amending the charge to something more serious. He will know the new charge on May 13.
Sekola Sello is a retired veteran journalist
