South Africa

South Africa

Newsflash: SAPS clean up – Western Cape sexting top cop job’s advertised as vacant

Newsflash: SAPS clean up – Western Cape sexting top cop job’s advertised as vacant

Major-General Patrick Mbotho, Western Cape Deputy Provincial Commissioner of Detectives, who admitted to sending an explicit video from his work cellphone to a SAPS WhatsApp group last year, might just be out of a job. While SAPS has refused to confirm that the controversial cop, who replaced the illegally sidelined Major-General Jeremy Veary in 2016, has been “transferred”, his job has been advertised as vacant. By MARIANNE THAMM.

Mbotho, appointed by former acting National Commissioner Kgomotso Phahlane in June 2016, has been named in the sensational bail hearing of five Cape Town “mafia” kingpins currently being heard in the Magistrate’s Court.

Earlier this month the court heard that one of the kingpins in a protection racket in the city, Nafiz Modack, had boasted (and had been recorded) that Major-General Mbotho, along with Major-General Mzwandile Tiyo, head of the region’s crime intelligence unit, were working with the rackets. The court heard that Modack had met twice with Mbotho in the city.

Both Mbotho and Tiyo have been the focus of a successful Labour Court challenge by Veary and Major-General Peter Jacobs, who were both sidelined by Phahlane in 2016. Veary and Jacobs, who were working on high-profile gang cases in the province, were transferred to lesser positions.

Veary was consigned as commander of the Cape Town cluster while Jacobs was appointed Wynberg cluster commander. During the Labour Court hearing it emerged that Tiyo did not have the security clearance required for the top job.

While both Veary and Jacobs were successful in their bid to be reinstated in their jobs this has still not been officially done.

Mbotho, who exercised command and oversight of the crucial Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, posted the explicit clip of a couple having sex to the WhatApp group on 13 July. He later texted “sorry guys, delete that”.

Daily Maverick requested SAPS to confirm that Major-General Mobotho has been “transferred”. SAPS Corporate Communication spokesperson, Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, told Daily Maverick “unfortunately we are not in a position to comment on internal matters concerning our personnel in the Western Cape”.

However on Thursday Mbotho’s job, Post No 18/01/3033 was officially advertised as vacant. DM

Photo: President Jacob Zuma with some of the thousands of South African Police Force officers during an annual Commemoration Day to remember police officers killed in the line of duty, at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria, South Africa, 06 September 2015. EPA/GCIS

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.