IPID head McBride's chilling warning to Gauteng Hawks boss

Head of police watchdog Independent Police Investigative Directorate Robert McBride has a chilling warning for Gauteng Hawks boss Major-General Prince Mokotedi: be careful that “if you play with a cat‚ that the cat is not playing with you”.

He invited Mokotedi to a public polygraph test to prove the charges of treason‚ espionage and conspiracy to commit murder Mokotedi laid against him on Monday‚ saying there was no amount of smoke and mirrors that could change the truth.

McBride was responding to explosive allegations that he‚ private investigator Paul O'Sullivan‚ former Gauteng Hawks head Shadrack Sibiya and suspended crime intelligence agent Captain Candice Coetzee were part of a plot hatched to assassinate high ranking policing and government officials.

The allegations are contained in an affidavit deposed by Mokotedi on Monday.

“This will collapse like the rendition matter collapsed...we are unafraid‚ we are not intimidated‚” he said in Pretoria on Tuesday.

McBride said he was being targeted for his focus on systemic corruption in the top echelons of police‚ saying “people do not want to be separated from their ill-gotten gains”.

He said it was not surprising that the charges were laid against him hours after a warning statement was obtained from Hawks head Berning Ntlemeza and the docket against acting police commissioner General Khomotso Phahlane was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“So the date of the 12 (December) is very important for (Phahlane and Ntlemeza). This therefore comes as no surprise that on the 12 December in the evening charges are laid against me‚” he said.

Mokotedi claims the four accused met on December 3 at the former house of Czech gangster Radovan Krejcir‚ now allegedly owned by O’Sullivan. Representatives of AfriForum and the Democratic Alliance are said to have been present.

McBride confirmed meeting with O'Sullivan in his house‚ saying there was nothing untoward about the meeting as O'Sullivan was a complainant in a number of matters they are investigating.

“In terms of our experience with Paul O Sullivan his information has always been accurate and even in instances where we thought he was not correct it was later found that his information was correct. Now‚ as a complainant‚ we would regularly meet with him‚” he said.

McBride charged that there were a number of attempts to get rid of him‚ through the parliamentary processes and through unlawful and unconstitutional means. He said these sinister processes were continuing so it had not come as a surprise that the recent allegations had been made.

"The allegation made is based on a supposed set of information‚ hearsay of hearsay‚ from a single source and the statement that has been made must be rejected completely that there is any illegal activity that IPID and IPID investigators are involved in and I am not aware of any situation where any illegal activity was discussed with me or my investigators or anybody else‚" he said.

- TMG Digital/The Times