Sunday Times reports that the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) says it will approach the courts to seek an interdict if a problematic former prisons boss in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is reinstated.  

Rumours are rife in the province that Mnikelwa Nxele, who was fired in August, is on the verge of making a comeback.  The former regional commissioner of correctional services is at the centre of a report compiled by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which probed the awarding of contracts for the supply of food, toiletries and other services for prison inmates in the province.  The report apparently details how the contracting for goods and services on behalf of the department was manipulated to favour suppliers with low scores during the procurement process.  The SIU recommended that Nxele and others involved be charged with misconduct.  Nxele was also named by whistleblower Angelo Agrizzi at the Zondo inquiry into state capture as having accepted monthly payments of R50,000 from African Global Operations (formerly Bosasa).  He spent most of 2019 on suspension and was dismissed in August following an internal disciplinary hearing into counts of misconduct unrelated to the bribery allegations.  But insiders in the department said he has often boasted about how his “connections” in the ANC in KZN would fight for him to be reinstated.  Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the union had been tipped off that the department was planning to reinstate Nxele, and would oppose this move at all costs.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Caiphus Kgosana on page 4 of The Sunday Times of 17 November 2019

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