Former SAPS commissioner Khomotso Phahlane is given the boot

Former acting national police commissioner General Khomotso Phahlane has been fired, media reports say.

Phahlane was suspended in June 2017 by then Police Minister Fikile Mbalula over corruption allegations.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) had long called for the former top cop to be given his marching orders, citing misconduct and allegations that he had been meddling in the Directorate’s affairs.

Phahlane was arrested in March 2019 in connection with irregularities involving a R86 million tender for the purchase of emergency blue lights and other equipment for police vehicles.

His co-accused are Gauteng police top brass including the South African Police Service (SAPS) head of procurement, Brigadier James Ramanjalum as well as General Deliwe de Lange.

‘This is not his first rodeo’

Ironically, this isn’t the first time Phahlane has found himself being fingered in wrongdoing as in 2017, he was accused of accepting kickbacks to secure tenders for a company, when he was still the SAPS’ head of forensics.

The company is said to have installed a top of the range sound system worth R80 000 inside his home.

There were also questions surrounding how he was able to afford his lavish lifestyle, including an R8 million house in a Pretoria estate.

 “All that goes with I have built a house of eight million rands… So someone must come and prove to you and the nation that there is a house, which was built for eight million rands. My transactions are documented, so I am not going to go around circle on that. It is not for me to prove, it is for them to prove what they have been alleging. I’m on record – that’s why I am saying to you my conscience is not bothering me. I am asking, do they have the integrity? Is their conscience clean?”, he once told the SABC.

He was appointed in October 2015 following the suspension of Riah Phiyega.

In 2019, an Independent Media report revealed that Phahlane had earned close to R4 million since being placed on suspension, which sparked outrage amongst civil society as well as the  South African Police Union (Sapu).

“The general is milking millions of rand while sitting at home. General Phahlane has said on several occasions that he wants to be allowed to do what he was employed for”, the union’s Mpho Kwinika is quoted as saying.