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Cape Town - Criminal allegations against top Western Cape police official Jeremy Vearey are a "smear campaign", the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) claimed on Monday.
"The heated top-cop-versus-politician smear campaign saga will only serve to destabilise SAPS and distract officers from the fight to uproot corruption, drugs and gangsterism," Sanco national spokesperson Jabu Mahlangu said in a statement.
Last month, a spat erupted between Community Safety MEC Dan Plato and Major General Jeremy Vearey – who serves as the provincial deputy commissioner for detectives – after affidavits surfaced linking Vearey to Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir, and a murder.
One affidavit claimed Vearey had received R6m from Krejcir, while in another he has been accused of working with a suspected gang boss who ordered a hit in Strand in January.
At the time, Plato said he was merely doing his constitutional duty by handing over affidavits containing the various allegations. He denied leaking the information to the media.
On Monday, Mahlangu said if an investigation proved that the affidavits were inaccurate, "Plato should be fired and face criminal charges".
"The allegation that Vearey is being targeted for being a former Unkhonto We Sizwe member is equally a serious one," Mahlangu added.
Last week, both Plato and Vearey were rapped over the knuckles by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, who called on them to stop dragging each other's names through the mud in public.
