Crime Intelligence head Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo has alleged that a co-ordinated misinformation campaign was launched against him after his efforts to reform and improve the division after his appointment.
Testifying before parliament’s ad hoc committee on Thursday, Khumalo detailed several measures he implemented to overhaul the division — decisions he claims were met with unhappiness from senior managers.
Khumalo described a division that had been crippled by the misuse of resources and intelligence methodologies, which led to a lack of service delivery to the broader SAPS.
“The environment was operating in a ‘free mode’. It was not operating like SAPS crime intelligence; it was operating like a unit serving its own purposes,” Khumalo testified.
He highlighted the widespread misuse of state resources, particularly the “unlawful” allocation of luxury vehicles to senior officers.
“It amounts to fraud and corruption if you are benefiting twice (having both a structured vehicle allowance and a luxury state vehicle).”
“The misinformation campaign started through the media and was linked to every decision I took,” Khumalo explained.
— Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo
Khumalo described the division as a “free-for-all” characterised by:
- outdated or nonexistent physical, human and financial control measures;
- the irregular appointment of relatives and friends of management;
- the infamous appointment of 250 individuals under the guise of being “agents” who did not actually work; and
- a total failure to implement consequence management against senior leaders.
Khumalo stated that while his decisions were unpopular among senior managers, they were necessary legal reforms to ensure the division operated lawfully. He noted that the misinformation campaign began in late 2024 as a direct response to these interventions.
“The misinformation campaign started through the media and was linked to every decision I took,” Khumalo explained.
One such instance involved his directive to repossess state vehicles from senior managers for redistribution to operational units. “Soon after the directive was issued under my signature and the vehicles were collected, photos were taken of where they were being kept. Media reports then suggested the vehicles were merely collecting dust rather than being allocated to members.”
Khumalo addressed the scrutiny of informer payments. He directed that all payments to informers exceeding R3,000 be reviewed by a committee before being processed. “This was a problem for those who were previously benefiting [from the lack of oversight].”
Furthermore, he addressed the dismissal of the 250 “ghost employees,” some of whom held ranks as high as full colonel despite not having worked for 15 to 20 years. “The misinformation accompanying this was that the division was being ‘incapacitated’ by these dismissals. One had to hunt those people down and dismiss them.”
He emphasised that his interventions, including enforcing consequences for senior managers, were essential to restoring the integrity of the division.
The hearing continues.
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