The ANC is set to hand a dossier about Dan Plato’s alleged involvement with Cape gang bosses to the Hawks.
|||Cape Town - The ANC is to hand a dossier of information about Community Safety MEC Dan Plato’s alleged involvement with notorious Cape Town gang bosses to the elite crime-fighting unit the Hawks, and the Public Protector this week, in the latest twist in the murky battle being waged between DA politicians and the province’s top cops.
The seemingly bizarre allegations against Plato come against a background of Plato having compiled his own dossier replete with equally bizarre allegations against some of the province’s top police officers in what insiders describe as a “climate of distrust”.
Relations between the police and the Community Safety Department have deteriorated to such an extent that insiders claim Plato hired private investigators to spy on those cops with links to the ANC.
The ANC last week called for a probe into Plato and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille over what the party described as a “fabricated campaign founded on the concoction of fictitious facts” to discredit the national government in general, and the South African Police Service in particular.
A source alleged Plato even approached a former colleague of the ANC’s provincial chairman Marius Fransman – also the deputy minister of international relations and co-operation – to provide dirt on the ANC leader.
The ANC’s provincial secretary, Songezo Mjongile, confirmed the party’s legal team was wrapping up information on Plato, and that they were likely to hand their information to the relevant authorities by Tuesday.
Plato dismissed the allegations that his department had private investigators on its payroll, saying he could not turn away people who willingly came forward with information on alleged illegal activity.
“If some of that information alleges criminal activity, I am obliged to treat the information as serious, and, as such, hand it over to the relevant authorities to be investigated – the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), the Public Protector, or the provincial police commissioner’s office,” he said.
Plato said he was open to any full-scale investigation on him because the allegations against him were all lies.
“I reject their claims with the contempt that they deserve. These are all false claims about spying. I’ve never spied on anyone, and the DA has never paid for such nonsense,” he said, adding that when particularly sensitive information was given to him, he advised those people to go to the police.
While the MEC denied having any ill-will towards the provincial police, it is common cause that since taking office in the Western Cape, the provincial police chief, Arno Lamoer, has faced a fair bit of flak from the provincial government. Lamoer declined to comment yesterday.
Meanwhile, several intelligence insiders claimed there was evidence to back the allegations about Plato spying on the cops.
A source claimed there were taped conversations of meetings at the offices of a group posing as an NGO in Rondebosch but later found to be a front organisation.
Police insiders also confirmed they had been looking into Plato’s alleged ties with the gangs.
It is common knowledge Plato has been waving his own dossier around for two years, threatening to expose corruption within the ANC and police service.
From the start Plato has been upfront about his meetings with “community-based gangsters”, mainly youths.
He has also defended controver-sial efforts at peace-brokering on the Cape Flats.
Plato has even accused the ANC of conspiring with gang bosses, claiming he had received “reliable information” that senior ANC leaders had met numerous top gang bosses in the Western Cape.
Weekend Argus