Former SAPS boss, co-accused granted bail
The former acting national police commissioner and other high ranking police officials charged with tender fraud and corruption amounting to R54 million have been granted bail.
Kgomotso Phahlane and his co-accused Lieutenant Colonel Godfrey Mahwayi, Major General Maanda Nemutandzhela, Major General Mankosana Makhele, and businessmen Inbanathan Kistiah and Avendra Naidoo appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday.
They were arrested in Pretoria, Durban and Bloemfontein this week.
Two of the accused are businessmen based in Durban.
They all face charges in connection with two SAPS tenders issued in 2016.
The NPA's Investigating Directorate's Sindi Seboka says it involves the emergency procurement of software tools.
"One of the software was named RIPJAR. It was intended to collect and monitor information from social media platforms on the instigators of the university students’ #FeesMustFall protests. Open sources reveal that the #FeesMustFall protests started in October 2015. By December 2016 it was far-fetched to claim a response to the protests as an ‘emergency’.”
"They purported to buy the RIPJAR software from a company that is not involved in software engineering but was a security alarms and surveillance cameras company. The owners of the so-called competing companies were friends, who in fact and in truth, were involved in cover quoting."
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