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Johannesburg - Former police crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli was formally charged in the South Gauteng High Court, sitting in Palm Ridge, on Monday.
His case was postponed to 7 October because his lawyer was not available.
He faces charges including kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, intimidation, and defeating the ends of justice related to a 15-year-old crime.
Mdluli's cousin Yabo Ntmane told reporters outside court Mdluli was being framed by senior people inside and outside the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
He said Mdluli had not yet been furnished with the charge sheet and was not told what the charges were.
"Apparently it was assault and intimidation but we are not sure," he said.
Indictment
NPA spokesperson Nathi Mncube told reporters that was not true and that Mdluli was served with an indictment listing the charges in June.
Charges against Mdluli were reinstated earlier this year after the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a high court ruling against the withdrawal of fraud and corruption charges against him.
This was after Freedom Under Law sought an order in the North Gauteng High Court to set aside the decisions and reinstate the charges against him.
Mdluli was suspended amid allegations of fraud and corruption, and charges relating to the murder of his ex-lover's husband Oupa Ramogibe in February 1999.
In the 15-year-old case, Mdluli and three others were initially accused of killing Ramogibe, and charges of intimidation, kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder.
Ramogibe allegedly received death threats after marrying Mdluli's former girlfriend and was told to leave her or he would be killed. He opened an attempted murder case before his death.
At the time, Mdluli was the station commander of the Vosloorus police station in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, and was accused of sabotaging the investigation.
The charges of kidnapping and assault relate to allegations that he intimidated and assaulted the family and friends of his ex-lover to find out where she had moved to when she got married.
Fraud and corruption charges
The fraud and corruption charges, meanwhile, relate to a different time in Mdluli's life - in his capacity as head of the crime intelligence unit.
He is accused of employing family members and friends as intelligence operatives, and misusing police funding to buy luxury cars.
The fraud and corruption charges were withdrawn on 14 December 2011 and in March 2012, Mdluli was reinstated as head of crime intelligence.
A month later, the NPA provisionally withdrew the murder charges, pending an inquest into the matter.
In May that year, then police minister Nathi Mthethwa announced Mdluli would be transferred from crime intelligence to the office of the deputy national police commissioner for operations.
Later, he was suspended for a second time when allegations emerged from the inquest into Ramogibe's murder. In November 2012, the inquest cleared him of any involvement in the murder.
