The three top police officials in Nelson Mandela Bay who faced possible dismissal after being found guilty of insubordination, following disciplinary proceedings, have been suspended for two months without pay.
The decision to dismiss Humewood Station Commander, Brig. Leonie Bentley, Gelvandale Station Commander, Brig. Lawrence Soekoe, and Deputy District Commissioner for Visible Policing, Brig. Ronald Koll, was set aside by Provincial Police Commissioner, Lt. Gen. Liziwe Ntshinga last week.
Provincial police spokesperson, Brig. Tembinkosi Kinana, said that having received the recommendations of the chairperson of disciplinary inquiry, Ntshinga, in consultation with the departmental legal office and human resources management, had after studying the recommendations, confirmed a sanction against the employees concerned.
“However, she used her prerogative to reduce the sanction from dismissal to a two- month suspension without remuneration.
“The sanction is to be implemented with immediate effect,” Kinana said.
“It must be noted that the provincial commissioner is empowered by the applicable regulations to use discretionary powers in matters of this nature.
“The same procedures have applied in this particular context,” he added.
The suspension of the officials stems from an incident where the three allegedly walked out of a meeting without permission late last year. In this meeting, they raised objection to the appointment of Brig. Thandiswa Kupiso as Mount Road cluster commander.
The objection was allegedly raised because the appointment of Kupiso went directly against a court order granted in relation to a matter brought by the two leading police unions, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and the SA Police Union (Sapu).
The DA in Nelson Mandela Bay, who took to the streets in a recent march to the Mount Road police station to hand over a memorandum that called for the decision of dismissal to be set aside, was not satisfied with this outcome.
DA MPL and member of the safety and security portfolio committee, Marshall von Bunchenroder, said that the decision to suspend the officials was simply unacceptable, as evidence indicated that the charges against them had no merit.
“The DA believes it is still imperative that the demands, as set out in the memorandum, are still met.
“These include ensuring that these members (were) allowed to return to their duties by Friday, May 7, 2021 and that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) must start investigating the circumstances leading up to the disciplinary cases against these brigadiers, including evidence that was led by senior officials who have allegedly committed perjury through their testimony,” Von Buchenroder said.
“Those who are implicated in committing perjury in relation to the disciplinary cases must be suspended, pending the outcome of the IPID’s investigation,” he added.
