Issued by African National Congress KwaZulu-Natal
6 January 2000
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal strongly condemns the alleged utterances by provincial deputy director of public prosecutions Chris McAdam against two most senior police officers in the province. It is alleged that McAdam was recorded calling province's deputy head of detective services Director Eric Nkabinde and Capt Mbele "dirty rotten bastards" and calling his seniors "a bunch of arseholes who do not know what is happening at the grassroots level."
The ANC views these alleged utterances in a very serious light and will not rest until it gets the tape to establish the veracity of the alleged slanderous remarks. We demand the immediate suspension of McAdam pending the investigation on these allegations.
The ANC is disturbed by reports saying that the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions has come out in support of McAdam hence the directorate should not conduct the investigation instead the ministry of Safety and Security or of Justice should take charge of the probe.
If the truth of these allegations is ultimately established the National Directorate will have to be censured by the Minister of Safety and Security or of Justice for justifying racist utterances by McAdam.
The ANC has full confidence on Director Nkabinde and Capt Mbele and would like the alleged case against them to be finalised soon in order to establish the veracity of the allegations against them. We find it strange that when ever a black officer is on the verge of being promoted a case against him gets open. Just like Nkabinde, Director Badool of Pitermaritzburg and Capt Mandla Vilakazi were both charged soon before they could be promoted subsequently they could not get promotion even though they were cleared.
We also note with interest the DP's quick call for National Commissioner Jackie Selebe to "go on leave" while the charge against him is investigated and the same DP has remained silent on the McAdam issue. It is clear that the DP is doing nothing else but playing a cheap political racist card.
Issued by the ANC KZN leadership
Contact ANC spokesperson for Safety nad Security Bheki Cele at 082-402 8286 or ANC Spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu at 082 702 9729