The police have refuted claims that a brigadier — allegedly currently out on bail for corruption charges and criticised for her lack of operational policing experience — was appointed to lead the Visible Policing (Vispol) unit in Pretoria’s Moot district.

In response to outrage over the appointment, national police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe clarified that the member was transferred to the Technology Management Service (TMS), where she will work in line with her qualifications, which include a National Diploma in Mechatronics Engineering and a BTech in Industrial Engineering. According to SAPS, she is not tasked with overseeing frontline policing operations but is filling a support role aligned with her expertise.

“The SAPS has lateral entry opportunities for individuals with specialised skills or expertise,” SAPS explained. “These professionals are considered for positions that require specific skills other than policing, meaning policing won’t be their core function because they are rendering a support function to the core mandate of SAPS. These professionals are employed based on their experience and qualifications, mainly in the support environments of the SAPS.”

The police further pointed to several other examples of lateral appointments in the organisation:

• The Divisional Commissioner for Supply Chain Management, previously a chief director at National Treasury, joined SAPS in 2022.
• A 35‑year‑old Major General in the Hawks, who is a chartered accountant and certified fraud examiner, was appointed in 2021 from a parastatal and now heads forensic investigations.
• The SAPS CFO, with a BCom in accounting, joined at the rank of colonel 20 years ago.
• Lieutenant General (Dr) Bongiwe Zulu, now head of SAPS training, entered SAPS at colonel level at the age of 35 and holds two PhDs — in Education and in Criminology and Forensic Studies.

This comes after the Democratic Alliance (DA) slammed the appointment as “outrageous” and a clear example of nepotism, demanding it be reversed immediately to protect the integrity of the police service.

“We demand the immediate reversal of this indefensible decision and will use Parliament’s accountability mechanisms to ensure full transparency about how such an appointment was made.

“This decision is nothing short of outrageous. The Brigadier in question was one of several senior Crime Intelligence members arrested just weeks ago on charges including fraud, corruption and abuse of SAPS secret service funds. SAPS management now claims this is a “temporary transfer” under the Disciplinary Regulations, which allow for redeployment if a member’s presence in their current post is untenable. But nothing in the regulations justifies failing to impose precautionary suspension, which exists specifically to protect investigations and institutional integrity in cases exactly like this.”

Also read: Brigadier out on bail, no experience takes over key Pretoria policing job

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