Sibusiso Sithole said they were made by fellow officers, unions and taxi owners.

Last month Durban was wracked by violent protests staged by taxi drivers, who claimed that the eThekwini metro police were targeting them unfairly.

Included in their list of demands given to the city was a call for Nzama's immediate dismissal.

Sithole said that Nzama had initially agreed to the special leave that was due to start on May 29, but that he had since disputed that there was an agreement.

He said an additional reason for the special leave was to give the city time to assess what had caused the "instability" under Nzama's leadership.

"The third reason relates to serious security concerns against Mr Nzama, which have come to our attention. We believe as a City that we should take appropriate steps to protect him as our employee."

Sithole did not specify what these security concerns were and said Vincent Ngubane had been appointed as acting metro police chief for the next three months.

Nzama could not immediately be reached for comment.