New Hawks head facing criminal charge

Hawks head Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza may be charged with defeating the ends of justice following a complaint lodged five years ago and which the Minister of Police was aware of before he appointed Ntlemeza as head of the elite crime-fighting unit, notes Legalbrief. According to a report in The Mercury, the head of the NPA has a completed docket detailing the case against Ntlemeza, who is accused of ignoring a complaint against a former captain at the Polokwane police station. A decision whether to press ahead with the charge is expected next week. The officer, Thomas Rallele, who was allegedly romantically linked to Ntlemeza’s daughter, was caught red-handed with a cellphone taken during an armed robbery and defrauding the police by falsifying vehicle logs, says the report. The complaint was submitted by Lieutenant Boitumelo Ramahlaha, who was stationed at the Polokwane police station and investigated Rallele, and ultimately convicted him after detailed reports proved Rallele’s guilt. The report says Ramahlaha reported the misconduct to Ntlemeza, who was the deputy provincial commissioner for Limpopo at the time. However, the complaint has seemingly been ignored for the past five years.