National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole will officially vacate his office on Thursday. He is retiring, after 35 years in the Police Service.
However, his departure has been marred by some controversy, as he is leaving office seven months before his contract ends.
General Sitole says he is proud of the work he has done, since his appointment by former President Jacob Zuma more than five years ago.
Sitole has accused some people within SAPS of leaking false information about him in the media. Sitole says his appointment as head of police in 2017 came as a surprise to many, as little was known about him before then. Sitole’s tenure has been marred by a damning High court judgment in January last year, which found that he had breached his duty as top cop regarding the procurement of the spy grabber technology prior to the ANC’s 2017 Nasrec conference. General Sitole says it is not surprising that then IPID head Robert McBride was the one who investigated the case because he was eyeing the top cop position.
“He says he was called and in that meeting, they said where does this Sitole come from? What is it that we can do in order to make sure that we remove him from the position? We managed to deal with Phahlaane, he is gone now, and now it is Sitole. Then came the formulation of this information around the purchase of a grabber.” says Sitole
VIDEO: SABC Exclusive – In conversation with outgoing National Police Commissioner Lt Gen Khehla Sitole
