Brig Dineo Mokwele, appointed to a senior post in crime intelligence as a civilian without policing experience or the correct procedures being followed, is the daughter of a senior Hawks officer who was arrested in January on corruption charges.
Mokwele was among seven high-ranking officers arrested this week in connection with her appointment. Among them was crime intelligence head Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo.
A senior SAPS source claimed on Saturday that Mokwele's appointment was “payment” to her father, Brig Mapome Mohajane, for squashing an investigation into a political killing in Limpopo.
The source claimed the relationship was no accident: “While this was not what he himself was arrested for, Mohajane helped make a docket go away that had SAPS political task team members as suspects.”
Mohajane, 54, was arrested in January for attempting to bribe a police officer to influence a criminal investigation into a Limpopo councillor. He is currently on bail.
Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, who registered the Mokwele case, on Saturday confirmed that Mokwele was Mohajane's daughter.
The senior SAPS source said it was cleanup time in crime intelligence.
“Phase one of this cleanup was when [crime intelligence CFO Philani] Lushaba was arrested on June 13 for making false statements after a prostitute stole his service weapon. Phase two was the arrests this week. Over the next week or two phase three will come into play. This third phase is about crimes relating to procurement. Some more big trees will be chopped down.”
Lushaba was also among those charged this week.
The source said a boutique hotel had been purchased for more than R20m with money from the crime intelligence fund. “Then there is a matter of a forklift that was bought for more than R1m early in 2024 for Pretoria, which never arrived. Only after people started asking questions this year, a case was registered,” they alleged.
Appearing in the Pretoria regional court on Friday alongside Khumalo, Lushaba and Mowele were Maj-Gen Josias Lekalakala, Gauteng head: crime intelligence; Maj-Gen Nosipho Precious Madondo, head of the analysis centre; Maj-Gen Zwelithini Gabela, SAPS technology services; and Brig Phindile Ncube, head of the vetting office.
Mokwele was hired in April 2024 as a technical support system manager. She previously worked at BMW.
A TransUnion credit search by the Sunday Times revealed that Mokwele had used the surname Mohajane. She was also listed under the same surname as a reference in an online CV with the same cellphone number now used by Mokwele.
Henry Mamothame, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), said they were unaware of claims naming Mohajane as Mokwele’s father.
Attempts to contact Brig Mapome Mohajane for comment yesterday were not successful.
He said the seven suspects had appeared in the Pretoria regional court on charges of fraud and corruption relating to the appointment of an unqualified civilian in a senior post within the SAPS.
“Their court appearance follows their arrest on Thursday, June 26 by Idac. The matter was postponed to August 13 for disclosure,” Mamothame said.
“Khumalo, Madondo, Lekalakala, Gabela, Ncube and Mokwele were granted R10,000 bail. They were ordered not to enter any premises of crime intelligence. Lushaba will remain in custody as his matter is a schedule 6 criminal offence, owing to a pending case.”
O’Sullivan wrote to national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola demanding the disgraced officers be suspended. Failing that, he intended going to court.
“These officers were all involved in looting the crime intelligence fund and covering each other’s tracks. If the commissioner does not suspend them all by Monday, I will bring an urgent application to court to have him suspended,” said O’Sullivan.
“The appointment of Mokwele, a 30-year-old former clerk at BMW, was done without following the correct procedures. This woman is at the centre of a nexus of criminality that will unfold as the case progresses in court,” O’Sullivan said.
Other senior police sources, who cannot be named, said there was more to come.
“Mokwele is not the only outside appointment among the disgraced officers,” claimed a senior police source. “Asking me to talk to you about these [people] is akin to asking me to hold a live grenade after someone walked off with the pin.”
National police spokesperson Brig Athlende Mathe said Masemola pledged his full support and co-operation to the investigative directorate.
“The crime intelligence division is a very integral part of crime prevention and combating. We assure South Africans that the work of crime intelligence will continue, the division will continue to function, this won’t in anyway undermine the division's work. The national commissioner will be appointing a senior officer in terms of SAPS disciplinary regulations to commence with an internal investigation. He is also considering who will act in the various roles occupied by the affected senior managers.”
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