Former Limpopo police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba and two other generals are facing corruption charges after they allegedly hired a candidate who did not get the highest score during an interview process.
Ledwaba and his co-accused Maj-Gen Hlagodi Morakaladi and Maj-Gen Nyikeni Baloyi made a brief appearance in the Pretoria magistrate's court on Wednesday.
The matter was postponed to August.
In 2016, the trio was part of a selection panel responsible for the interview and recommendation of candidates in relation to the advertised posts for Polokwane station commander and the Modimolle cluster commander.
According to the charge sheet, the accused trio allegedly changed the scoresheets to favour their preferred candidate while the ones with higher scores could not be recommended for the job.
“The accused agreed to change the scoresheets, giving or offering gratification in the form of recommendation and/or possible employment to a candidate who secured a lesser score during the interview process. The action by the accused amounted to the illegal, dishonest, unauthorised, incomplete or biased exercise, carrying out or performance of any powers, duties or functions arising out of a constitutional, statutory, contractual or any other legal obligation," read the charge sheet.
“In so acting, the accused abused their position of authority, and/or breached their trust and/or violated a legal duty or a set of rules and were aimed at achieving an unjustified result,” further read the document.
Ledwaba and Baloyi have since retired, and Morakaladi is still serving as an officer.
Robbie Raburabu, spokesperson for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), told Sowetan that the matter was referred to the police watchdog in 2019 after it was reported to SAPS.
He said the officer, who was a former station commander at Westenburg in Polokwane, allegedly “got information that he was supposed to have been appointed because he scored higher points. He recorded the person who gave him the information and made the recording public.
“The employee (the officer who scored higher) got charged internally by SAPS for spreading the information about the interviews,” he said.
Raburabu said the employee resigned before he faced a disciplinary hearing.
He said SAPS had also fired the official who fed the officer with information about the interview process following an internal disciplinary process.
Raburabu said the whistleblower had been out of work for two years but was now back in the SAPS employ after winning in the labour court.
chabalalaj@sowetan.co.za
Three police generals in court to face corruption rap
Former commissioner among accused three
Image: Antonio Muchave
Former Limpopo police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba and two other generals are facing corruption charges after they allegedly hired a candidate who did not get the highest score during an interview process.
Ledwaba and his co-accused Maj-Gen Hlagodi Morakaladi and Maj-Gen Nyikeni Baloyi made a brief appearance in the Pretoria magistrate's court on Wednesday.
The matter was postponed to August.
In 2016, the trio was part of a selection panel responsible for the interview and recommendation of candidates in relation to the advertised posts for Polokwane station commander and the Modimolle cluster commander.
According to the charge sheet, the accused trio allegedly changed the scoresheets to favour their preferred candidate while the ones with higher scores could not be recommended for the job.
“The accused agreed to change the scoresheets, giving or offering gratification in the form of recommendation and/or possible employment to a candidate who secured a lesser score during the interview process. The action by the accused amounted to the illegal, dishonest, unauthorised, incomplete or biased exercise, carrying out or performance of any powers, duties or functions arising out of a constitutional, statutory, contractual or any other legal obligation," read the charge sheet.
“In so acting, the accused abused their position of authority, and/or breached their trust and/or violated a legal duty or a set of rules and were aimed at achieving an unjustified result,” further read the document.
Ledwaba and Baloyi have since retired, and Morakaladi is still serving as an officer.
Robbie Raburabu, spokesperson for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), told Sowetan that the matter was referred to the police watchdog in 2019 after it was reported to SAPS.
He said the officer, who was a former station commander at Westenburg in Polokwane, allegedly “got information that he was supposed to have been appointed because he scored higher points. He recorded the person who gave him the information and made the recording public.
“The employee (the officer who scored higher) got charged internally by SAPS for spreading the information about the interviews,” he said.
Raburabu said the employee resigned before he faced a disciplinary hearing.
He said SAPS had also fired the official who fed the officer with information about the interview process following an internal disciplinary process.
Raburabu said the whistleblower had been out of work for two years but was now back in the SAPS employ after winning in the labour court.
chabalalaj@sowetan.co.za
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