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Three employees of police watchdog Ipid will apply this afternoon to the Johannesburg Labour Court for an order preventing acting head Israel Kgamanyane from suspending or transferring them.
The three Independent Police Investigative Directorate employees – Moses Dlamini, Antonett Mphago and Pule Maoka – received letters on Monday informing them that they were set to be either suspended or transferred.
The three, who have been barred from entering Ipid’s headquarters in central Pretoria, were told that should they refuse the transfers they would be suspended.
Dlamini, the organisation’s spokesperson before he was replaced by Grace Langa, was informed he was being transferred to the position of director of investigations in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mphago, who headed the organisation’s national corporate services division, was informed that she would be transferred to Johannesburg to the job of Gauteng corporate services director.
Maoka, the legal services head, was told he was being transferred the position of investigations director in Limpopo.
In court papers, the three contend that they are not qualified to do the jobs they have now been told to do, and they have also launched a complaint to the bargaining council.
They also say that “no arrangements were made by [Kgamanyane and Ipid] in respect of accommodation, meals, travel” for their transfers.
The three are being investigated in connection with leaking information to City Press around the appointment of deputy police minister Maggie Sotyu’s daughter, Boniwe, to the position of deputy investigations director in the Free State.
Boniwe Sotyu bagged the job ahead of 90 other candidates, one of whom was an experienced investigator who had received six awards for his work. Boniwe Sotyu had never conducted investigations before and did not have the required qualifications or experience required according to the job advertisement.
Ipid’s chief director of corporate services, Nomkhosi Netsianda, was suspended last month for querying Boniwe Sotyu’s appointment.
Memorandums seen by City Press show that Kgamanyane has launched a high-level investigation, conducted by the State Security Agency, to establish who leaked the information about Boniwe Sotyu’s appointment.
The matter is due to be heard later today.
