FUL together with the Helen Suzman Foundation brought an application to set aside the appointment of General Ntlemeza as the new head of the Hawks. Extremely serious findings of dishonesty had been made against Ntlemeza by the Pretoria and KwaZulu Natal High Courts. It is critical that the person appointed to head the country’s most elite crime-fighting unit, tasked with overseeing efforts to combat corruption and other specialised crime, be an individual of the highest integrity. Without such assurance, there is risk that the institution be compromised and corrupted. In court, FUL and HSF maintained that Ntlemeza’s appointment was irrational in that proper consideration had not been given to the court findings relating to his honesty in the appointment process. The application was heard by a full bench in the North Gauteng High Court on 6 December 2016.
In March 2017, judgement was given, ordering that Ntlemeza’s appointment was unlawful. Ntlemeza sought leave to appeal the decision before the North Gauteng High Court and HSF and FUL made a counter-application seeking immediate execution of the order. Ntlemeza’s application was denied whereas the application for immediate enforcement was granted. Ntlemeza subsequently sought to appeal the immediate enforcement order which was dismissed by the SCA. He was also denied leave to appeal the judgement relating to the unlawfulness of his appointment.
Thereafter, Ntlemeza sought leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court. In December 2017, his application was dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
Read here about subsequent testimony emerging from the Zondo Commission, implicating Ntlemeza in interfering with Hawks’ investigations.
