National police commissioner Gen Khehla Sitole’s future hangs in the balance as President Cyril Ramaphosa considers the top cop’s representations on a notice to suspend him.

There have been growing calls for Sitole to step down following a July judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) upholding a high court ruling that he breached his duties as top cop.

This was in relation to his role in refusing to hand over information to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) about the procurement of a surveillance device, the grabber, before the ANC’s elective conference in Nasrec in 2017.

Ramaphosa has served Sitole with a notice indicating his intention to place him on suspension and asked him to make representation on why he should not be suspended.

Sitole’s cellphone was answered by a man who did not identify himself and said the commissioner was too busy to attend to the Sowetan phone call on Thursday.

Details of why Sowetan needed to talk to him were given to the man but at the time of going to print, Sitole had not responded.

David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to combating corruption, said Sitole’s looming departure may not solve problems in the police service due to battles between the police minister and the police commissioner.

“It seems the president has now taken decisive action to get to the bottom of this, which is good but what it does demonstrate is that there’s a huge amount of infighting,” Lewis said.

“Whoever is going to be appointed next may enjoy the support of the minister but not the support of those who were on Sitole’s. It’s pleasing to see that there’s gonna be an inquiry, which will resolve something but I’m not sure about it resolving conflict inside the police [service],” Lewis said.

Acting presidential spokesperson Tyrone Seale on Thursday said Ramaphosa had written to Sitole on September 20 in connection with allegations of his failure to assistIpid.

“These allegations emerged publicly and became the subject of a finding by Judge Norman Davis in the Pretoria high court. The oresident has indicated to the national commissioner that the issues arising from the high court judgment are serious,” Seale said.

He said Ramaphosa had deemed it appropriate at this stage to institute a board of inquiry into Sitole’s alleged misconduct and fitness to hold the office.

“This is merited by the public interest in the integrity of the office of the national commissioner. The president outlined this context in his letter to general Sitole and gave the commissioner 14 days in which to respond,” Seale said.

He confirmed that Sitole had already submitted representations in this regard, which the president was still considering.

“While the president considers these representations, further engagement on this matter will be between the president and the national commissioner,” Seale said.

The Independent Policing Union of SA (Ipusa) said Sitole's suspension would be justified as the SA Police Service has not performed under his leadership.

“While the suspension or dismissal of any employee should never give room for one to score any points, as Ipusa, after carefully watching with shame the demise of SAPS, we regrettably welcome the intended suspension of the national police commissioner Mr Khehla Sitole,” the union said in a statement.

“Our regret emanates from the fact his failures put everyone in SA at risk.” Additional Reporting - Nomahlubi Sonjica