Hawks reopen Cele graft probe, but activists not holding their breath for action

Amid a crescendo of calls for Police Minister Bheki Cele to step down, he has again found himself in hot water as his decade-old investigation into the controversial R1.17 billion rental deal resurfaces, with civil organisations calling for an independent reinvestigation.

Hawks national spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo yesterday confirmed the case against Cele was submitted to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on 2 November and was currently with the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit in Pretoria for review of the evidence.

“The case under investigation and relates to Contravention of Section 86 of the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 and possible fraud and corruption,” she said.

Director of Accountability Now Paul Hoffman said the news should be taken with a grain of salt, as it was a shame that the Investigating Directorate (ID) was passing the buck back to the “hapless Hawks” – which could once again see the case falling through the cracks.

A report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela found Cele breached the constitution and the Public Finance Management Act because of the leases for police headquarters in Pretoria and Durban from businessman Roux Shabangu, which were not agreed in a fair, transparent and cost-effective manner.

Madonsela said she rejected Cele’s argument that he was at the mercy of officials, some of whom had ignored his decision to withdraw all delegation of authority in respect of contracts exceeding R500 million.

Hawks lack skilled investigators

However, Hoffman said after 10 years of the case going cold and then resurfacing again, it made no sense that the ID was not looking to pursue the investigation itself, instead passing it on to the Hawks due to a lack of “time and resources”.

He said the Hawks lacked experienced and skilled investigators and were structurally and operationally compromised when it comes to an investigation of the minister of police himself.

“The attitude of [head of ID Andrea] Johnson and the lack of progress in the case suggest that the reform of the criminal justice administration to better enable it to take on serious corruption cases is long overdue,” he added.

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Hoffman said the referral of the matter to the Hawks previously was “a test of the operational and institutional independence of the Hawks, as investigating a former national commissioner of police tests the willingness, always professed, to act without fear, favour or prejudice”.

He added: “Needless to say, the Hawks did nothing of use to investigate Cele, a politically powerful person, and the NPA had no legislated mandate to do any investigative work of any kind. Instead, it declined to prosecute Cele.”

ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said the case was with the Hawks and that they could not comment further.

NPA lauded for reopening case against Cele

Action Society’s Action Centre coordinator Kaylynn Palm welcomed the NPA’s decision.

The civil organisation earlier this year started a petition which garnered more than 130 000 signatures, after lodging a formal request for Cele’s termination with Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in July.

“Thus, we want to congratulate advocate Andrea Johnson of the NPA for reopening the building fraud investigation against him. He should never have been appointed as minister,” said Palm.

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“Cele should be stopped from further dragging the South African Police Service deeper into the abyss. If he had been serious about our country’s dire crime situation, he would have been implementing effective strategies instead of parading around at the Idols finale.”

Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba did not respond to questions about the new reinvestigation.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za