The officer‚ who is said to enjoy the protection of police top brass and senior politicians‚ is facing two charges of theft‚ two of fraud and one of corruption for allegedly using fraudulent invoices to claim money to install blinds in safe houses in two plush Pretoria suburbs‚ Waterkloof Heights and Brooklyn.
For 15 years‚ while serving as a crime intelligence operative‚ Tshabalala was on the run from a 10-year sentence for armed robbery committed in Mamelodi in 1994.
He was convicted for the crime in 1996 but he appealed the conviction and sentence and then failed to hand himself over to prison authorities when his appeal was dismissed.
The police officer is on parole after being released in 2015 from the Groenpunt maximum security prison‚ where he was serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery.