Kishene Chetty's explosive affidavit reveals police misconduct in South Africa

Businessman Kishene Chetty has submitted a hard-hitting affidavit to the Ad-Hoc Committee of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the criminal justice system. In this affidavit, he detailed allegations against the conduct of certain prosecutors and investigators from the Independent Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC).

Chetty accused the IDAC personnel of having a vendetta against him. He claimed that they allegedly resuscitated old charges against him that had previously been dropped. He argued that their handling of his case was not within the bounds of the law.

Chetty's submission relates to Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigations into serious allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in July. Chetty is set to appear before the Committee in the first half of the new year. He submitted his affidavit earlier this month.

In his affidavit, Chetty detailed allegations of abuse of power by members of the South African Police Service (SAPS), specifically senior investigators Dylan Perumal and Suneel Bellochun at the IDAC, under the supervision of Advocate Andrea Johnson, the head of IDAC.

Chetty claimed that his troubles began when he opened a case against senior IDAC prosecutors, Advocates Paul Louw and Tilas Chabalala, and the associated investigators in July 2022. The charges he brought against them included fraud and an attempt to defeat the administration of justice.

Previously, Chetty had a contract with the SAPS to conduct vehicle markings. However, he was investigated by Perumal and Bellochun for fraud, corruption, and forgery regarding the work he was conducting.

The charges were opened at the SAPS' Silverton branch in Pretoria in 2018. Advocate Chabalala was the lead prosecutor in the matter against Chetty, with Louw also included in the prosecution team.

The matter was struck off the roll in March 2021 due to insufficient evidence to support the charges against Chetty. However, Chabalala, and with his investigating team, revived the Silverton charges in February 2022.

When Chetty reviewed the matter brought against him, he realised that it was the exact same charges that had already been struck off.

He believed it was inappropriate to revive them. Chetty claimed to have learned that the investigating officer, Bongani Shungula, who was handling the charges he brought against the IDAC personnel, was being tracked by Perumal and Bellochun, who monitored his movements.

In his affidavit to the Ad Hoc Committee, Chetty claimed that such conduct was intimidatory towards Shungula.

He also stated that Shungula found bullets placed on his vehicle. Chetty believed it might have been the work of the IDAC investigators.

Shungula, a Pretoria-based detective, reported his concerns to the higher authorities within the SAPS. This drew the attention of the National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola and General Shadrack Sibiya, who is the head of detectives.

As part of Shungula's investigation into Chetty's complaint, he required a warning statement from Chabalala and the others.

Chabalala refused to cooperate and indicated that he had already communicated with Sibiya regarding the matter. The others, like Chabalala, also refused to provide statements, which then led to Chetty's arrest in March 2023.

Chetty stated that his arrest was another instance where individuals from IDAC attempted to "silence" him and undermine the investigation into their activities.

He was confused as to why the IDAC officials were trying to interfere with the case docket that Shungula was handling.

IDAC’s spokesperson Henry Mamothame declined to respond to questions from the Daily News. “IDAC will not comment,” Mamothame said.

The SAPS did not respond to questions sent to them at the time of publication.

All the IDAC personnel in question referred the publication to Mamothame for comment. Mamothame also cautioned the publication against approaching IDAC officials directly.

DAILY NEWS