Ekurhuleni metro police chief Jabulani Isaac Mapiyeye. (City of Ekurhuleni/Facebook)
Jabulani Mapiyeye has been placed on precautionary suspension following allegations of sexual misconduct. News24 understands that two women have come forward implicating Mapiyeye. The City of Tshwane council appointed an independent investigator to probe the matter.The City of Ekurhuleni has placed metro police chief Jabulani Isaac Mapiyeye on precautionary suspension following allegations of serious misconduct.
Mapiyeye was served with the letter of his suspension on Wednesday following the recent surfacing of claims of sexual misconduct, City spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said on Thursday.
“At a Special Council Meeting held early this month, the council authorised the city manager to follow procedures in line, among others, with the Local Government Disciplinary Regulations for senior managers on the disciplinary procedures against senior managers, as well as the systems of delegations and relevant [city] policies in dealing with the matter,” he said.
The council further authorised the City manager to appoint an independent investigator to conduct an investigation into the allegations that it “deemed to be serious in nature”.
“Upon the appointment of the independent investigator, the accounting officer is to submit the report to council of the latter and findings against the Chief of Police Mr Mapiyeye, within 30 days of his appointment, the council resolved,” said Dlamini.
Previously, the Ekurhuleni council spent six hours deliberating on a report into Mapiyeye. The meeting was held behind closed doors and focused on procedural issues.
Allegations against Mapiyeye
News24 understands two women have accused Mapiyeye of sexual misconduct.
One of the woman claimed that Mapiyeye had sexually harassed and intimidated her after contacting her family members.
Earlier this month, a second woman came forward to complain about sexual harassment.
Mapiyeye is no stranger to scandal, and has previously been accused of assaulting a pregnant woman and drunk driving.
The Office of the Public Protector initially investigated cases against him following a complaint by private investigator Calvin Rafadi.
On 5 December 2023, Rafadi laid a complaint in connection with allegations of gender-based assault, defeating the ends of justice, and corruption.
IPID investigation
In April 2024, acting Gauteng representative in the Public Protector’s office, Vusumuzi Xolani Dlamini, wrote to Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) head Dikeledi Jennifer Ntlatseng, informing her of the allegations.
“In this regard, the Public Protector has identified your institution (IPID) as the best-suited, appropriate public body or authority to refer the aforesaid matter to,” Dlamini said in the letter.
“The Public Protector is of the view that this complaint falls under the jurisdiction of IPID’s mandate, which is to conduct independent and impartial investigations of specified criminality committed by police officials, including assault, corruption and other matters.”
Dlamini added that assault charges had been laid against Mapiyeye at the Kwa-Thema police station.
“These charges emanated from an incident which involved Mapiyeye abusing Sarah Nhlapho, an employee of a security company that is contracted with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to conduct operations at the KwaThema Metro Academy,” he said.
In the letter, Dlamini said another matter stemmed from a vehicle accident in volving Mapiyeye on 25 May 2019.
“Derrick McBride attended the scene of the accident. McBride was instructed to do a breathalyser on the driver of the other vehicle and not on Mapiyeye and recorded a 0.00 reading on Mapiyeye. Mapiyeye also did not have a driver’s licence in his possession,” he said.
Dlamini wrote that Mapiyeye was also a director of three companies which he had failed to declare to his employer.
“There are incidents of corruption which involves the registration of students at the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department Training College who were registered without following proper procedure because of bullying tactics and influential pressure applied by Mapiyeye on officials of the Traffic Training College,” he said.
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