WHO IS JOHAN BOOYSEN?

IT has taken Major-General Johan Booysen 35 years to rise to his position as head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal.

He joined the police in 1976 - the year in which the Soweto riots drew attention to the atrocities committed by the South African Police.

His career advancement has been aided by training courses, including by the FBI in the US and the China Police University.

Booysen is at pains to deny reports of a close relationship with suspended police chief Bheki Cele, saying he barely knew the man and had been to the police chief's house only once - and that was on official business.

Booysen said Cele played no part in his promotion, even though he would have had to approve the appointment.

"He doesn't even come into my office," Booysen said. "You can ask anyone in the building."

Booysen was recently lauded for having turned down a R2-million bribe. But, as the story opposite shows, there was much more to the tale.

When he was appointed to head the province's Hawks in 2010, the father of three told journalists he wanted to leave a legacy of having made KwaZulu-Natal "a safer place".

Yet, weeks before taxi boss Bongani Mkhize was gunned down by cops in an apparent hit, it was Booysen who said in an affidavit that Mkhize had nothing to fear from the police.

The Independent Complaints Directorate confirmed this week that Booysen has also been investigated for "intimidation", but that the complaint had been withdrawn.

In interviews with the Sunday Times, Booysen denied all knowledge of police "hits", saying he "sits in this office most days".

But it was Booysen who flew by police helicopter to the scene of the killing of Magojela Ndimande.

There he apparently congratulated officers of the Cato Manor unit for shooting dead a suspected cop-killer.