South Africa’s top police officer faces charges in a widening corruption scandal

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South Africa's top police officer was served with a warrant Wednesday and is facing charges in relation to a widening corruption scandal that saw 12 other senior officers arrested by anti-graft investigators.

National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola was served with a warrant ordering him to appear in court next month in relation to an investigation into an allegedly corrupt contract to provide health and well-being services to police officers, police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe said at a court appearance for the other officers.

The high-profile arrests and warrant came while an inquiry continues into alleged high-level corruption in the South African police. Parliament also held special hearings into the allegations.

The judge-led inquiry was ordered last year by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who had already suspended the police minister in what is becoming a major scandal for Africa's leading economy.

Mathe declined to detail the charges against Masemola but said "he has taken note of the charges brought against him, and he has pledged his full cooperation." He was ordered to appear in court on April 21, Mathe said.

A spokesperson for state prosecutors also declined to say what the charges against Masemola were but confirmed they were in relation to the contract that the 12 other officers were arrested over.

Ramaphosa's office said in a statement he was aware of prosecutors issuing the warrant against Masemola and was committed to ensuring the police force "remains stable and able to continue fulfilling its policing mandate."

Ramaphosa deployed the army on the streets in some areas in South Africa earlier this month to help with law enforcement in what was viewed as an admission that police were failing to reign in the country's high rates of violent crime.

The other senior police officers were arrested in an operation by the National Prosecuting Authority's anti-corruption unit, reportedly at the police's national headquarters in the capital, Pretoria. They face charges of corruption and fraud, prosecutors said.

The officers, one of them a major-general and several of them brigadiers - some of the highest ranks in the South African police - were all released on bail.

They are accused of corruption alongside a businessman who allegedly has links to organized crime and whose company is at the heart of the multi-million-dollar police contract that was ultimately canceled.

The businessman, Vusi "Cat" Matlala, is one of several witnesses who has testified on alleged links between senior police officers and crime bosses. He testified at the Parliament hearings that he had paid a former police minister around $30,000 for what he said was protection.

Matlala was already under arrest and is being held at a maximum-security prison on attempted murder and other charges in an unrelated case.

South Africa has been beset by corruption scandals for years, often involving large government contracts. Former President Jacob Zuma resigned in 2018 because of graft allegations and his time in charge was marred by a period of widespread corruption at state-owned companies.

Many of those cases are still being investigated.

Allegations of wrongdoing against the police are also not new. Former Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi was convicted of corruption in 2010. He died in 2015.

This inquiry into police corruption stems from a dramatic press conference last year by a provincial police officer, who accused Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and senior police officers of having links with organized crime. KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lt-Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi claimed that criminal syndicates and drug cartels had infiltrated the police at the highest level.

Mchunu has been accused of illegally ordering the closure of a specialist crime-fighting unit in order to protect alleged criminals that it was investigating.

The inquiry and the Parliamentary hearings into alleged police wrongdoing have often been broadcast live on national news stations and have included some startling revelations, including by one of the senior police officers who was arrested and is facing corruption charges.

Brig. Rachel Matjeng testified to having a romantic relationship with Matlala, who has a long history of criminal charges that were dropped, but denied she took money and gifts from him for corrupt reasons. She said he gave her money and gifts - which included a weight loss drug - only because they were lovers.

An interim report from the police corruption inquiry, which is due to continue next month, has been handed to Ramaphosa and recommends criminal investigations against several other police officers.