{"id":24031,"date":"2026-01-15T01:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T01:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/24031\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T01:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T01:51:11","slug":"ex-police-head-khomotso-phahlane-on-his-removal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/24031\/","title":{"rendered":"ex-police head Khomotso Phahlane on his removal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former acting national police commissioner Lt-Gen Khomotso Phahlane has accused former police minister Fikile Mbalula<\/a> of exceeding his authority by suspending him.<\/p>\n

Phahlane was testifying before parliament\u2019s ad hoc committee on Wednesday. The committee is investigating allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system initially raised last year by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Phahlane is the first witness to appear in the second phase of these proceedings after a break in December.<\/p>\n

He was appointed acting national police commissioner on October 14 2015 by former president Jacob Zuma, following the suspension of Riah Phiyega. Nearly two years later, he was asked to \u201cstep aside\u201d by Mbalula.<\/p>\n

At the time, Phahlane faced serious allegations of corruption, including claims that he received kickbacks \u2014 such as luxury vehicles and an R80,000 sound system \u2014 from a service provider awarded police tenders.<\/p>\n

I was not removed by the president as the constitution states; I was made to step aside by the then-minister of police. No law provides for such a move, which is why I continue to say my removal cannot be found anywhere in the official prescripts<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Khomotso Phahlane<\/p>\n

Phahlane described his removal as \u201cunlawful and irrational\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the guinea pig for the step-aside policy because it was applied only to me, for whatever reasons,\u201d he told the committee.<\/p>\n

He recounted the day of his suspension, explaining that he was summoned to meet the minister in Cape Town following a wave of negative media reports. After waiting for three hours, Phahlane said the eventual meeting lasted only five minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minister simply asked, \u2018In view of this negativity in the media, isn\u2019t it better that you step aside?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI agreed because I am not glued to any position. I accepted the role of acting national commissioner knowing that, as a member of the SAPS, you can be redeployed at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phahlane claimed when he asked for a technical definition of what \u201cstepping aside\u201d entailed, he was simply told to \u201cgo home\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former acting commissioner argued that the legal protocols for his removal were ignored. He maintained that according to the constitution, only the president has the authority to remove a national commissioner.<\/p>\n

I always hear ministers say we serve at the behest of the president. Why should I contest something with the minister that should not have been contested in the first place? It is not in my nature to protest. I walked away because I didn\u2019t want conflict<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Phahlane<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not removed by the president as the constitution states; I was made to step aside by the then minister of police. No law provides for such a move, which is why I continue to say my removal cannot be found anywhere in the official prescripts,\u201d he argued. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo date, I do not have a letter signed by the president saying I should be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked why he did not challenge the decision at the time, Phahlane said he wanted to avoid conflict with Mbalula.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always hear ministers say we serve at the behest of the president. Why should I contest something with the minister that should not have been contested in the first place? It is not in my nature to protest. I walked away because I didn\u2019t want conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his long-term suspension, Phahlane was officially dismissed from the SAPS in 2020. A disciplinary hearing found him guilty of \u201celements of dishonesty\u201d regarding a 2014 contract for panoramic cameras during his tenure as the head of forensic services.<\/p>\n

Phahlane is currently challenging his dismissal in the Labour Appeal Court, seeking to have the decision declared unlawful.<\/p>\n

TimesLIVE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former acting national police commissioner Lt-Gen Khomotso Phahlane has accused former police minister Fikile Mbalula of exceeding his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[4456,14725,14724,14726,14729,14727,14730,14728,131,14731],"class_list":{"0":"post-24031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-jacob-zuma","9":"tag-mbalula-authority","10":"tag-phahlane-dismissal","11":"tag-phahlane-dismissal-challenge","12":"tag-police-commissioner-suspension","13":"tag-police-misconduct","14":"tag-police-suspension","15":"tag-riah-phiyega","16":"tag-south-africa","17":"tag-step-aside-policy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}