Neo Goba | 14 June, 2016 14:05
Hawks boss Major-General Bernard Ntlemeza.
Image by: Gallo Images / Beeld / Felix Dlangamandla
The Young Communist League of South Africa has urged President Jacob Zuma to remove Hawks boss Major-General Bernard Ntlemeza with immediate effect.
This comes as Ntlemeza was recently allegedly overheard saying “communists must be harassed” and that the South African Communist Party North West secretary Madoda Sambatha would be next.
"It is beyond comprehension as to how a former apartheid security branch operative could be appointed as the Head of the Hawks. Apartheid was declared a crime against humanity by the United Nations‚" said YCLSA National Secretary Mluleki Dlelanga.
Chairperson of the YCLSA Yershen Pillay also weighed in on the current discourse saying Ntlemeza's appointment was not legitimate as he was a branch member of the apartheid police.
"What went into the thinking around the appointment of someone who was a member of the special branch of the apartheid police… How do you justify that? What was the criteria that was used and how do we then justify the fact that a former member of the special branch of the apartheid police is allowed to prosecute freedom fighters such as Robert McBride?" asked Pillay.
The YCLSA's parent organisation - the South Africa Communist Party - had previously accused Ntlemeza of targeting and isolating Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan‚ by threatening to investigate him for his role in setting up a surveillance unit at SA Revenue Services during his tenure as SARS Commissioner.
"So really one has to question what type of security arms do we have and the leaders of those arms… and whether they are qualified and credible enough [and] if they are qualified leaders who understand the democracy we have and are fit to lead‚" added Pillay.
During the 94th birthday celebration of the YCLSA at the Metro Centre in Johannesburg‚ SACP second deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila said they would not allow Ntlemeza to harass communists.
Mapaila said the Communist Party would lay a formal complaint at the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) against Ntlemeza for allegedly using the agency to fight political battles.
Ntlemeza‚ meanwhile‚ faces possible charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice after he was accused by a police officer of being responsible for making a docket disappear and of ignoring evidence of alleged criminality by another police officer.