Bizarre twist in the Zimbabwean rendition saga

In a bizarre twist in the Zimbabwean rendition saga, a top police officer has taken the fall for former Hawks boss Anwa Dramat and the Gauteng head of the elite unit, Shadrack Sibiya.

Lieutenant-Colonel Leslie "Cowboy" Maluleke, who says he deported several Zimbabweans on his own initiative, has lashed out at Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega.

Maluleke, Dramat and Sibiya were suspended in connection with the renditions. Suspects handed over to Zimbabwean authorities later died. Dramat has since resigned.

In an interview with The Sunday Independent, Maluleke dropped a bombshell, saying Dramat had been targeted after he refused to hand over the Nkandla docket to Phiyega.

Last year, political parties filed complaints of corruption against President Jacob Zuma relating to the R246 million in upgrades carried out at his private Nkandla home at public expense and described as being necessary to improve security.

"Phiyega was asked by Nhleko to get the docket from Dramat. That's why they used this rendition saga to oust him. There is no charge called rendition in SA," Maluleke claimed.

Maluleke said Dramat and Sibiya had nothing to do with the deportation of several Zimbabweans. He said, however, he had informed them about the progress of the operation.

"It was my own initiative. I was never instructed to kidnap or arrest anyone and send them to Zimbabwe to be killed.

"I had to deport them because they were illegal immigrants."

Phiyega's spokesman, Solomon Makgale, dismissed Maluleke's statements, saying the corruption case against Zuma was investigated by Lieutenant-General Vinesh Monoo.

"The Hawks released a statement saying they were not investigating the case. How can the commissioner ask for dockets about the investigation from the Hawks?"

Maluleke responded: "That's not true, they took everything after Dramat was suspended. They knew if they suspended him, he had to leave everything in the office."

Nhleko's spokesman, Musa Zondi, said: "The minister remains of the view that gross human rights abuses were committed. We can't allow our country to go back to that era where people were abducted and taken to their death."

Maluleke said he was in charge of the operations that led to several Zimbabweans being sent home. The first was in November 2010, in Diepsloot, and led to the arrests of Sheperd Tshuma, Maqhawe Sibanda, Witness Ndeya and Nelson Ndlovu.

Maluleke said it was his initiative to trace members of the gang linked to Bongani Moyo, sentenced to 277 years in jail but serving 62.

Maluleke said he did not know anything about their involvement in the murder of a Zimbabwean cop. He learnt about this a few days after they had been handed over to Zimbabwean officials.

In other operations, Gordon Dube, Pritchard Tshuma and John Nyoni were driven to Zimbabwe and handed over to immigration officers after police could not link them to crimes in South Africa.

"I might have gone to Zimbabwe three times or more."

Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said: "Only Home Affairs is allowed to deport people."

Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi concurred.

This matter needed serious investigation, Mulaudzi said. Maluleke said he was the commander of the Specific Violent Crimes Unit, tasked with tracing suspects involved in bank and mall robberies and ATM bombings.

"All of them were alive when we handed them to the Zimbabwean immigration officers. Anyone who claims Ndeya was killed because we took him to Zimbabwe is lying. He did not die in our hands. We handed them over to the Zimbabwean officials. How he (Ndeya) died there is none of our business.

"The Zimbabwean immigration officers interviewed them and released those who could not be linked to any crimes. I'm not sure if Ndeya was linked to the murder of a police officer or the murder of seven people who were burnt to death."

Tshuma, Dube and Nyoni are also believed to have died.

Maluleke said the men were deported during a special dispensation period for Zimbabweans.

The Zimbabwean dispensation project, from September to December 31, 2010, was to regularise the stay of Zimbabweans who did not have papers.

Maluleke could not explain who had given him authority to carry out deportations without the involvement of Home Affairs.

Rendition survivors Sibanda and Tshuma said when Maluleke arrived in Diepsloot, he waved a list with the names of all the people he was looking for. The list had the names of Dube, Ndeya, Nyoni, Tshuma and Sibanda.

Tshuma and Sibanda claimed the police officers at Orlando police station, where they were detained for a weekend before they were driven to Zimbabwe, had told them they would be killed when they got home.

"They said we killed a police officer in Zimbabwe. When we asked Maluleke, he denied that."

Tshuma said Maluleke handed them over to Zimbabwean police when they arrived at Beit Bridge. He said they were then taken to a police station and interrogated.

"When we told them we don't know anything about the murder of a police officer, they got angry and tortured us. I was released after two weeks and left Witness there. I later learnt he had died," Tshuma said.

This week, at Sibiya's disciplinary hearing, Bongani Yende, who took part in the operation that led to the four arrests, testified that Maluleke had said the men had been killed and claimed Maluleke had said that in Zimbabwe, if you kill a policeman, you get killed.