National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole has been served with a notice of intention to suspend.

It has been reported that this follows four years of vicious infighting within the SAPS and allegations of gross mismanagement, particularly with regards to the PPE debacle.

Sitole has received a letter from President Cyril Ramaphosa calling for representations as to why he should not be suspended after he was found to have breached his duties as a police officer (in terms of the Ipid Act) by intentionally frustrating various Ipid investigations into corrupt procurement deals.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said correspondence between Ramaphosa and Sitoli is ‘privileged’ and he could not comment further.

A report on the News24 site notes that a court in January found Sitole and two of his lieutenants, Francinah Vuma and Leonard Tsumane, ‘breached their duties’ by failing to co-operate with Ipid, as the cop watchdog probed a string of dodgy deals.

The court also ordered that all the evidence sought by Ipid be immediately declassified and handed over.

Sitole, along with Vuma and Tsumane, have petitioned the Judge President of the SCA to hear their bid to overturn just one aspect of the ruling – that they had breached section 33 of the Ipid Act – which enjoins every policeman or woman to co-operate fully with any investigation by the police watchdog.

The order by Judge Norman Davis, handed down in January, remains an albatross around Sitole’s neck.

Die Burger reports that Sitole is also reportedly in the firing line for telling Parliament’s Police Committee that the Inspector-General absolved him and two others from any blame pertaining to the attempted procurement of a ‘grabber’ for the ANC’s Nasrec conference in 2017.

A TimesLIVE report notes that Ramaphosa's office, at the time, said he was applying his mind to a request by Police Minister Bheki Cele to suspend Sitole.

First News24 report

Full report in Die Burger

Full TimesLIVE report

Second News24 report