Former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane has told a parliamentary inquiry that his removal from office in 2017 was irregular and did not follow constitutional or legal procedures.
Appearing before the ad hoc committee on Wednesday, Phahlane gave evidence on allegations raised by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi about political interference within parts of South Africa’s criminal justice system. The hearings resumed after the December recess.
Phahlane said he was in Pretoria in June 2017 when he received a call from the office of then police minister Fikile Mbalula, instructing him to travel to Cape Town for a meeting. At the time, media reports were circulating about an investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) into his conduct.
According to Phahlane, he waited more than three hours before meeting the minister. The meeting, which was also attended by former deputy minister Bongani Mkhongi, lasted less than five minutes.
He told the committee that Mbalula asked whether it would be better for him to “step aside” given the negative media coverage. Phahlane said he agreed, stressing that he was not attached to any position and understood that senior police officers could be redeployed when required to serve the public.
However, Khomotso Phahlane said no formal process was followed. When he asked to whom he should hand over his duties, he was told not to worry. He was then instructed to go home.
Phahlane said that shortly afterwards, while waiting for his return flight, Mbalula publicly announced that he had been removed and given 48 hours to explain why he should not be suspended. Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba was named as the new acting national commissioner.
He told MPs that this announcement did not come from the president, who had appointed him to the post in 2015 following the suspension of former commissioner Riah Phiyega. Phahlane argued that under the Constitution and the SAPS Act, only the president had the authority to remove him.
Days later, he received a written suspension notice from Mothiba, which he described as an attempt to formalise what he called a “mess” created by the minister. He said he has never received a letter signed by the president formally removing him from office.
Khomotso Phahlane, who joined the police service in 1985 and rose to the rank of lieutenant-general, told the inquiry that his dismissal remains the subject of legal proceedings before the Labour Appeal Court, with a judgment expected soon.
