Police Minister, Bheki Cele seen speaking at the funeral service of Anti-Gang Unit commander Charl Kinnear, who was shot and killed on September 18, 2020, outside his Bishop Lavis home. Picture: Tracey Adams/African News Agency(ANA)
Cape Town - Police chiefs say they classified the Charl Kinnear report because they feared that individuals who gave evidence in the Ipid probe could be harassed or assassinated.
This is according to a parliamentary reply submitted by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), Police Minister Bheki Cele and Deputy Minister Cassel Mathale.
The Anti-Gang Unit commander was shot and killed on September 18, 2020, outside his Bishop Lavis home.
According to reports, Kinnear had been investigating a gun racket at the police headquarters in Pretoria involving high-ranking officers.
Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Groenewald – who was among MPs recently told by police committee chairperson Tina Joemat-Pettersson that members would need security clearance to view the report – had sent questions to the police ministry asking why the Kinnear report was classified.
The reply was signed by Ipid executive director Jennifer Ntlatseng as well as Mathale and Cele.
“The annexure to the report contains personal information of the individuals who provided evidence. Such information includes their cellphone records and addresses,” the three police chiefs attested.
“If this information is declassified, the risk is that these individuals may be followed and be harassed or even killed.”
They revealed the cops implicated in the classified report “have not been charged departmentally and criminally”.
“It would be unprecedented that an individual who has not been charged sees his or her name flagged.
“This will be a violation of these members’ constitutional rights,” the three said in their reply.
“It is anticipated that when all the processes have been initiated, the report will be reclassified.”
However, they wrote, the annexure to the report would remain classified in order to continue with the protection of the personal information contained therein.
“Ipid will also take counsel on this issue to determine need and the level of classification, should a need arise to do so,” the reply said.
Ipid recently tabled the classified version of the report, which was batted away by Joemat-Pettersson, who ruled that the police committee wouldn’t be able to discuss the report due to a lack of security clearance for MPs and the report being sent to her a few minutes before the committee proceedings.
The version before Parliament recommended to the Western Cape police top brass that seven police officers be disciplined and criminally charged and “strongly” recommended that the AGU undergo reforms.
In a recent appearance in the police committee, Ntlatseng confirmed MPs’ suspicions and said the report was classified because senior cops were being investigated.
“We’ve sent the report to the National Prosecuting Authority so they can consider our recommendations.
“We’ve sent the report to the national commissioner on recommendations, but we have not yet received any response from them to say how far they are with the process,” Ntlatseng said recently.
Businessman Nafiz Modack, Zane Kilian, AGU officer Ashley Tabisher, Amaal Jantjies, Ricardo Morgan and Janick Adonis face a raft of charges related to several incidents leading to Kinnear’s death.
A former rugby player, Kilian, 39, was implicated in the murder. He allegedly had been tracking Kinnear’s phone for months before the murder.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za