A police general faces suspension and internal disciplinary charges because his alleged negligence led to the assassination of Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear.
An investigation by The African Mirror has revealed that Lieutenant-General Peter Jacobs, national crime intelligence head, received information from the Hawks’ leadership about imminent danger to Kinnear, head of the SAPS' Anti-Gang Unit, and on several occasions failed to prevent Kinnear’s planned murder or provide security for him.
Kinnear was shot dead outside his house in Bishop Lavis on 18 September.
His wife Nicolette has submitted a petition to Parliament, demanding answers on circumstances regarding her husband’s death.
Zane Kilian has been charged with Kinnear’s murder and has appeared in court. His bail application was postponed to Tuesday.
An investigation has revealed that:
* The Hawks informed Jacobs about the threat on Kinnear’s life as soon as they were aware of it.
* Jacobs failed to act and neglected to operationalise intelligence that could have saved Kinnear’s life.
Two days before Kinnear was killed, Jacobs received information that his phone, along with those of two other police officers, were being illegally monitored but Jacobs said he was too ill to direct resources towards protecting Kinnear and opted to hold off the matter for a week.
Jacobs was interviewed by internal SAPS investigators about the circumstances leading to the murder of Kinnear and refused to provide a sworn statement.
During the interview, Jacobs said threats to Kinnear’s life were related to “matters” that had been raised with top SAPS management. He blamed the lack of response to these “matters”.
Several officers have given statements implicating Jacobs for failure to act.
The probe revealed the threats on Kinnear’s life went as far back as November last year.
At that point there was information on a threat to the lives of Kinnear, Major-General Jeremy Vearey and Major-General Andre Lincoln.
Soon after the threat was processed there was an attempted grenade attack on Kinnear’s house. Lieutenant-General Sindile Mfazi then ordered an upgrade of the protection of the officers.