Durban - A judge is expected to be allocated this week to hear argument in the legal showdown between newly appointed Hawks boss Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza and suspended KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen.
But in the meantime Booysen – who has been suspended since last month by Ntlemeza while an allegation of fraud is probed against him – has referred the dispute to the police’s bargaining council for a “conciliation process” to persuade Ntlemeza that “if he keeps an open mind”, there is no need for his suspension.
Booysen alleges his suspension has been based on a typographical error in a 2008 document recommending monetary awards to himself and members of the disbanded Cato Manor organised crime unit. He said he was not the author of the document and he did not approve the award – and he had independent witnesses to back him up.
Despite explaining this to Ntlemeza, he was suspended.
This, he claimed, was part of an ongoing campaign to get rid of him, which included other unsuccessful attempts to suspend him, to discipline him and to charge him criminally.
He pointed fingers at police commissioner Riah Phiyega and provincial commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni – who he said he was investigating for corruption – and accused Ntlemeza of acting with them to get rid of him.
Ntlemeza denied this. He said he was just doing his job and was not friends with either Phiyega or Ngobeni. He insisted that Booysen authored the document which was eventually approved by an awards committee “on good faith”.
In his final affidavit filed on Friday, Booysen said Ntlemeza’s relationship with the provincial commissioner “is much closer than he suggests”.
He claimed the two met once on a public holiday and Ntlemeza had visited the region on several occasions “without notification to me as would happen in normal circumstances”.
He said the day he was suspended, and while he was out of the office, Ntlemeza and Ngobeni had attempted to get into his locked office.
He also accused Ntlemeza of “intimidation”, alleging that on the public holiday September 24, “eight armed policemen, some with assault rifles” were used to try to serve a second notice about a departmental investigation.
“This show of arms was wholly disproportionate to the allegations against me. The attempted service the following day on my attorney’s office, is captured by CCTV … this too is indicative of the vendetta against me.”
KZN Judge President Achmat Jappie is expected to allocate a judge and date for hearing this week.
The Mercury