President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed the National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola on precautionary suspension and appointed Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane as acting national police commissioner. (GCIS)

President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed the National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola on precautionary suspension after his appearance at the Pretoria magistrate court on charges of contravening the public finance management act. 

“In consideration of the seriousness of these charges and the critical role that the national commissioner of police plays in leading the fight against crime, I have agreed with General Masemola that he be deemed to be on precautionary suspension pending the conclusion of the case,” Ramaphosa said in a televised address to the nation on Thursday. 

Masemola was accused of negligence as the police’s chief financial officer in allowing the irregular awarding of a R360 million contract to Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala’s medical service company, Medicare24. 

Masemola has been jointly charged in the state’s case against Matlala, 12 police officials and three company directors due in court on 13 May. 

Ramaphosa appointed Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane as acting national police commissioner. Dimpane currently holds the post of divisional commissioner for financial management services and chief financial officer. 

“I am confident that she has the qualities and the standing necessary to provide effective leadership to the South African Police Service during this challenging period,” said Ramaphosa. 

He said the South African Police Service faces a challenging time as the Madlanga commission exposes corruption and restructuring. 

“A key area of attention for the acting national police commissioner and the police leadership as a whole is to urgently address weaknesses in the procurement system for goods and services in the police service,” said Ramaphosa. 

He said the Zondo commission found that procurement services have been at the centre of corruption and fraud. 

“The minister of police will support the work that the South African Police Service leadership must now undertake to insulate procurement processes from any form of manipulation. This work will feed into the broader restructuring of procurement in the public sector which was announced in SONA,” he said. 

Ramaphosa said the primary focus of his Sona in February was on stepping up the fight against organised crime, corruption and violence. 

“For this fight to be successful, I said it is vital that our law enforcement agencies are capable, ethical and effective. They must have the full confidence of the people of South Africa,”

Following the state capture commission, the government has taken measures to uncover malleable and investigate wrongdoing within the police services, he said.

He said he established the Madlanga commission, with a tight time frame, to investigate police collusion in organised criminal activity. 

Ramaphosa said the justice, crime and security cluster has made progress in appointing KwaZulu-Natala provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as head of the new organised crime police unit.