Former crime intelligence analyst Pilasande Dotyeni’s perjury claims against presidential protection head Major-General Wally Rhoode are set to be tested in parliament this week.
Portfolio committee on police chair Ian Cameron has called on Dotyeni to formally present his explosive claims before the committee this week.
The hearing relates to the burglary in February 2020 at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm and the subsequent investigation by the police.
The meeting is expected to be held virtually.
Cameron’s invitation to Dotyeni required him to submit his presentation by Monday.
The committee noted that Dotyeni had reported a criminal complaint against Rhoode on September 7 for alleged perjury.
Dotyeni submitted an 18-page statement to back up his allegations when he reported his complaint to the Rosebank police.
In his complaint, Dotyeni accuses Rhoode of giving a false account under oath of his handling of the Phala Phala investigation and his alleged reporting of the matter to late former top cop Lieutenant-General Sindile Mfazi, who died in 2021.
The allegations have reopened questions about what Mfazi knew about the farm burglary before his death.
At the centre of Dotyeni’s complaint is Rhoode’s assertion that he informed Mfazi about the burglary and was instructed by the late general to conduct a preliminary inquiry before escalating the matter.
Rhoode made the claim in sworn statements submitted to the public protector and during disciplinary proceedings relating to his handling of the investigation.
But Dotyeni argues that records kept by Mfazi did not support Rhoode’s version.
After Mfazi’s death, Dotyeni said, he examined his surviving handwritten records, including the general’s official SAPS pocketbook and personal diary.
Neither record, he said, contained any reference to Rhoode informing Mfazi about the Phala Phala matter, receiving instructions from him, reporting back to him or submitting a report.
Dotyeni said this was significant because the alleged instruction from Mfazi was being relied on to provide an operational and legal basis for Rhoode’s involvement in the matter.
Dotyeni told the Dispatch on Monday that it was important that all institutions of government be made aware of what he believed to be false statements that had allegedly been made under oath.
“You will recall that the honourable President Ramaphosa relies on those [alleged] false statements both in parliament and the Constitutional Court.
“That is why it is important to thoroughly investigate the statements made by Major-General Wally Rhoode.
“That is why I registered the case,” he said.
“I hope for the portfolio committee on police and other bodies to take [seriously] the allegations I make because in my possession is material evidence in the form of General Mfazi’s pocketbook and diary which demonstrate that on [March 3 2020] no such reports were received from General Rhoode.
“This means that the operation concerning Phala Phala was [allegedly] unlawful.
“It also means then that what the president relies on to defend himself is ultimately [allegedly] false,” Dotyeni said.
Police have confirmed that the Cold Case Unit is investigating the circumstances surrounding Mfazi’s death five years ago in light of forensic and toxicology findings indicating that he had been poisoned.
Mfazi, who rose through the ranks of the SAPS in the Eastern Cape before becoming deputy national commissioner for crime detection, was among the country’s most senior police investigators.
At the time of his death, he was probing the fallout from the Phala Phala burglary, as well as other sensitive matters, including the murder of Western Cape detective Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear.
Mfazi’s death was initially attributed to Covid-19, but his body was later exhumed at the request of his family.
Police confirmed in July that the circumstances surrounding his death were now being treated as a murder investigation.
Cameron said at the time that fellow MPs were considering engaging the impeachment committee probing the Phala Phala saga to avoid duplicating processes.
The committee also wants to invite Rhoode for an engagement before deciding on its next steps.
Cameron has raised concerns about the SAPS internal disciplinary process involving Rhoode, particularly its “not guilty” outcome and its divergence from findings contained in an investigation by policing watchdog Ipid.
He said there were concerns that the police had moved too quickly to close the disciplinary matter without properly establishing whether Rhoode had been authorised by his superior to conduct his own investigation.
Daily Dispatch