News24 reports that national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola delayed the suspension of Mpumalanga police commissioner General Daphney Manamela following allegations of serious misconduct, until after the general elections.

Manamela is facing a raft of serious allegations, including using state vehicles to escort her on personal trips, demanding that a junior official buy her gold or red shoes to approve a transfer to another province, and unlawfully installing CCTV systems at the provincial head office in Mbombela to effectively spy on colleagues. She is also alleged to have threatened staff and sworn at subordinates, including a deputy district commissioner whom she allegedly told to "voetsek" and "fokof". Moreover, she allegedly told a provincial supply chain management head, in Setswana, that he was "shit, full of shit" and an "arsehole". The allegations prompted the national commissioner to serve Manamela with a notice of intention to suspend her pending the outcome of a board of inquiry into the allegations of misconduct. The inquiry was established in March 2023, but was delayed following a legal challenge by Manamela. The North Gauteng High Court dismissed Manamela's challenge to the lawfulness of the inquiry in April this year. In a notice of intention to suspend dated 15 May, Masemola said Manamela stood accused of a "litany of extremely serious allegations of misconduct" and that he was considering suspending her from office. The letter, which gave Manamela five calendar days to respond, was served on her on 16 May. However, Masemola has still not taken any action. Two sources from the HR at police headquarters indicated that Manamela should have been suspended a week before the elections, but that it was delayed to avoid "instability".

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Belinda Pheto & Alex Mitchley at News24

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