Commissioner Dhlamini

There is a problematic working relationship and work politics within the Metro Police Department involving Nadia Silas, the Director MAS, and a Key Account Specialist who refuses to work collaboratively, exacerbated by racial tensions and inclinations.

“In that meeting, it was resolved that the Key Account Specialist must liaise with the Director MAS in whatever HR-related matters within the department. But you can take from the email that came back on the 8th of May that there was no any effort of the two trying to work together... There is a click that works within the department of I mean people preferring, Dhlamini it is black, we cannot include him on these matters that relate either to HR or whatever the case might be.”

D C Bolhuis continues to handle arbitrations related to HR grievances due to the internal exclusion of Dhlamini in HR matters, maintaining the status quo within the Metro Police Department.

“The status quo is such that D C Bolhuis will continue doing arbitrations and so forth... much as D C Bolhuis, when he came here, it was clear that he is attending arbitrations and so forth, which are all related, coming from grievances and so forth, which get run by Director Nwandule, who must go to step three.”

There is a cabal within the Metro Police Department that deliberately manages HR matters to exclude Dhlamini and prefer white people, implying racial discrimination in recruitment processes.

“They will change them and put, I mean, white people to say Nadia, you will select white people, you will work with these people only on this matter and ensure that Dhlamini does not get information in this regard. So it is a cabal that it is run in the department and on HR matters...”

Mr M N I S I is aware that Sergeant Nkosi inserted himself into the payment process by making a phone call, knowing who to call at TMPD to move the payment process forward.

“He picks up his phone. He makes a phone call. He knows who to call, and that is how he inserts himself in the payment processes of Tshwane which you then enable because you allow him to continue doing that.”

Mr Mnisi explains the call made by Sergeant Nkosi to General Dhlamini was made in Mr Mnisi's presence while they were together in a vehicle.

“He called General Dhlamini and had a conversation with him in your presence ? Is that all you are referring to ? ... That was a starting point and also his commitment that he will give feedback .”

Mr Mnisi acknowledges he should have asked his personal assistant to handle communication with General Dhlamini instead of using Sergeant Nkosi, but at the time it did not cross his mind.

“At this point in time, it did not cross my mind, Chair. ... I should have.”

Mr Mnisi confirms the existence of a Whatsapp conversation between Sergeant Nkosi and General Dhlamini, with delays in conveying messages causing inefficiencies.

“...you see that that, there is a screenshot then that Sergeant Nkosi sends to the General of your conversation. ... He then comes back to you at 9:48 saying he confirmed it will be sorted now. ... at 9:55, you tell Sergeant Nkosi: "Okay, it is not yet in my system." And he sends you an image of fingers crossed. ... We are seeing in this example is how the allegedly convenient mechanism that you are using to address this situation actually results in delay...”

Sergeant Nkosi communicates messages from General Dhlamini to Mr Mnisi with delays, and Mr Mnisi confirms their communication mechanism is inconvenient causing delays.

“The General communicates this at 20 past 12, you only learn about it from Sergeant Nkosi half an hour after that, at 12:52. ... You are nodding your head. ... Yes, I am agreeing to that.”

A committee decided that from 1 July, certain services would no longer be used and a termination letter had to be issued.

“that committee made a decision that from the 1st of July, we will not be using these services. A termination letter must go out.”

Witness proactively sought a meeting with General Dhlamini to anticipate disputes about outstanding invoices related to termination letter.

“You ask for a meeting with General Dhlamini and you are telling us you were proactively seeking to anticipate any disputes about outstanding invoices.”

Lieutenant Dhlamini shared an invoice with Sergeant Nkosi, but Mr M N Isi did not allow it and said he would explain the reasons for the sharing.

“Lieutenant Dhlamini to share that invoice with Sergeant Nkosi ... I did not allow him . He will explain why he shared it ... I did not allow that .”

MR MNISI asked Sergeant Nkosi to call General Dhlamini at 9:57 but did not ask for the General's contact details at that time, only later realizing he should have done so to have direct discussions.

“You have to told Sergeant Nkosi to call the General at 9:57. You have not asked Sergeant Nkosi for the General 's contact details at 9:57. Why not? ... I asked for them after that. I do not remember why I did not ask for them at that point.”

MR MNISI explained that initially Sergeant Nkosi was used as a go-between due to his context relating to ad hoc services and issues involving Gubis, but he later asked for the General's contact details to correct this and deal with the Deputy Chief directly.

“As I was stating to the Commission, that this was still a matter that I was relating to from my context to the ad hoc services, one. Secondly, to the issue of Gubis, hence, I asked Sergeant Nkosi to do that. But immediately, I asked for the contact details as well as an element of correcting myself because...”

MR MNISI said the urgency to speak directly to General Dhlamini arose because he realized he should have asked for the contact number earlier to discuss the termination letter and ensure alignment on this matter, correcting his previous actions.

“It was urgent for me to have a direct discussion with the General in reference to being on the same state of mind in terms of the termination letter. I was, in short, correcting my own actions of sending that to Sergeant Nkosi by saying, I need to have this discussion with him on my own, please send me his numbers, I need those numbers now.”

MR MNISI clarified that the purpose of the meeting with General Dhlamini was not to arrange purchase orders but to ensure books are in order before year-end, avoiding surprises in financial statements and qualifications by the Auditor-General.

“The purpose was to ensure that the books are in order, that we do not get a surprise after year-end after financial statements have closed... This letter stops the services from the 1st of July. What happened between then and now? Were there any further deployments? How has those been dealt with? Was the budget available? Were purchase orders captured? I would not want a repeat... submitting financial statements to the AG with such force could result in a qualification error.”

Mr Mnisi planned a three-person meeting with General Dhlamini and Sergeant Nkosi to discuss urgent issues despite having received a termination letter.

“... the telephone call, this urgent telephone call was going to be a different discussion, or in addition to the meeting... the meeting was with you, Dhlamini, and Sergeant Nkosi... The meeting was not precipitated by the termination letter”

The urgency claimed by Mr Mnisi to speak with General Dhlamini about termination issues is challenged as not valid by Adv Baloyi based on the timing and procedural aspects.

“I need to do this on a call and I need to do it now... So it does not make sense that you have a meeting that you are scheduling and then you say I have to speak to him now so that I can't talk about the future that is only starting on the 1st of July... So it does not make sense at all as an explanation for why it is urgent to have a call...”

The discussion Mr Mnisi is purportedly seeking with Sergeant Nkosi and General Dhlamini about Gubis and termination was actually about different issues and unrelated to what he stated as the urgency.

“Gubis is about the letter that was sent to Gubis... But Gubis is not the only service provider who is implicated by termination of these adhoc services... So that again is to me, to me suggests that in fact your telephoned discussion and your meeting that you are asking for had nothing to do with what you are telling us that they were about...”

The termination letter would not have affected the City's urgency to meet with General Dhlamini or the urgency relating to year-end procedures for the 23/24, 24/25 and 25/26 financial years.

“The fact of the termination letter did not make any difference to the urgency relating to year-end procedures.”

Mr Mnisi did not copy Mr Dhlamini in the email communications regarding the unpaid invoice issue, despite questions about his essential role.

“Yes, he is not copied for some reason... No, Chair, I did not copy him in that response.”

The entities appointed as service providers do not fully mirror the list that Sergeant Nkosi was exchanging with Dhlamini and Mnisi; only Elshadai, Ngaphesheya, and later Gubis were appointed.

“Commissioner, not entirely, but the three entities, that would be Elshadai, Ngaphesheya, and later on Gubis ...”

Despite requests, Commissioner Dhlamini and Director Malatji have not responded to requests for reports and information about the ad hoc guards' deployment, hindering consequence management.

“Commissioner Dhlamini has never responded to me in my question to date, and Director Malatji has also not responded to me at all ... I have asked that reports and everything ... and that is part of why there is consequence management happening.”