Mdluli sent letter to Zuma, top cop

Mdluli sent letter to Zuma, top cop
April 8 2012 at 08:57am
By Gcwalisile Khanyi

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Former crime inteligence boss Richard Mdluli . Photo: Steve Lawrence

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Controversial Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli used the names of President Jacob Zuma and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa to have charges against him dropped, paving the way for his eventual return to work.

This emerged this week from a letter Mdluli wrote to Zuma, Mthethwa and acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, in which he claimed he was the victim of conspiracy theories by police top brass who wanted him out because he was seen to be a Zuma man.

He named suspended national police commissioner Bheki Cele, Gauteng provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros, head of crime detection Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya and Hawks head Lieutenant-General Anwa Dramat as the cops who had conspired to have him removed.

“The four officers mentioned had a meeting in which they planned I must be fired from the police before General Cele is suspended,” Mdluli wrote.

Mdluli based his letter on three affidavits he had allegedly received from different sources, regarding the claimed conspiracy theory.

Mdluli’s fraud charges were withdrawn in December last year – a month after he sent the letter to Zuma. He was accused of arranging to buy new BMW 3-series and 5-series vehicles for the crime intelligence division, even though they were not needed.

This was followed by the withdrawal of criminal charges at the Johannesburg High Court in February. The disciplinary charges have also been withdrawn and he is now back at work.

The Sunday Independent has seen the letter, dated November 3, 2011.

Mkhwanazi this week confirmed receiving Mdluli’s letter in November. He says he told Mdluli to use it as part of his submission to the internal hearing into his conduct. “I thought it would be inappropriate for the SAPS to act on the basis of the letter at that time, because there were internal processes.”



In the letter Mdluli, who was recently reinstated, said he was arrested because of the “ground coverage report which they allege I gave to the president and it was implicating other senior officers”.



Mdluli’s lawyer Ike Motloung did not respond to the calls and text messages sent to him.

Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj declined to comment, arguing that The Sunday Independent refused to give him a copy of the letter.

Petros, through his spokesman, Brigadier Neville Malila, said the national office of the SAPS would comment on the matter.

Police spokesman Colonel Vishnu Naidoo said the letter was “not for public discussion or debate”.

Cele did not respond to calls and text messages.

Mthethwa, through his spokesman Zweli Mnisi, said it was not in the department’s nature to comment on internal correspondence. Mthethwa is a known Zuma ally and appears on some of the slates of groups campaigning for Zuma’s re-election. - Sunday Independent