News24 reports that the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has instructed its legal team to launch an application in the Labour Court to review and set aside the findings of a disciplinary hearing which cleared a high-ranking official accused of being involved in the multimillion-rand theft of abalone.
Thembalethu Vico, the former acting chief director of monitoring, control and surveillance, was found not guilty of 14 charges relating to loss of abalone worth millions of rand. According to the charge sheet, three tons of abalone belonging to the department was removed or released from its store house in Paarden Eiland, resulting in Vico facing allegations of misconduct relating to its removal. He was accused of acting in concert with his colleagues – acting director-general, Siphokazi Ndudane and then-chief financial officer Nazima Parker – in releasing the abalone to crime intelligence officers for use in undercover operations, in circumstances which contravened policy prescripts regulating the handling of confiscated abalone. This resulted in a loss of an estimated R7m. The chairperson ruled in Vico's favour, saying he had acted under the authority of the acting director-general (DG). He questioned how the intention to steal could have been established in that instance. "It is very difficult to see how the crime of theft can be committed by handing over the item that it is alleged to have been stolen to the police," the judgment reads. Vico was also found not guilty of failing to report the incidents in Gansbaai, as there was no evidence that he even knew about them. Department spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo, however, said they had "noted the outcome of the chairperson of the disciplinary hearing with "concerns" and had instructed their legal team to launch an application to review and set aside the finding.
- Read the full original of the detailed report in the above regard by Tammy Petersen at News24
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