City of Joburg launches probe into GFIS amid reports of clandestine operations

The City of Joburg council speaker, Margaret Arnolds, has announced former evidence leader of the state capture commission, Advocate Pule Seleka, will lead the investigation into the City of Joburg’s group forensics and investigating services (GFIS) department.

The announcement follows reports of operational challenges as well as allegations of unlawful conduct by the metro’s group forensics and investigation services, which were previously reported to the council.

Last year, GFIS came under fire after several councillors reported the procurement of spyware employed to snoop on them.

In August, media reports indicated that a group of concerned councillors descended on the GFIS offices in Braamfontein to uncover if they were being monitored through the use of grabbers.

According to Independent Media, in 2022, Police Minister Bheki Cele reportedly ordered the City of Johannesburg to lay criminal charges over the GFIS’s purchase of multimillion-rand counter-intelligence equipment.

In a letter dated July 14, 2022, Cele said he had received a report that former Joburg mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse had allegedly subverted evidence implicating former Gauteng Hawks boss Shadrack Sibiya in the unlawful seizure of counter-intelligence functions of the State Security Agency (SSA).

Sibiya, a former Gauteng Hawks boss, is said to have played a significant role in the establishment of GFIS, which was created by then Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba in 2017.

Speaking during Sunday’s media briefing announcing the appointment of the investigating panel of lawyers led by Seleka, Arnolds indicated that part of the investigation’s terms of reference would also seek to uncover operational challenges as well as to establish if the unit had been established in accordance with the laws.

“The decision to appoint a senior counsel follows from a disclosure of the operations director of GFIS and a subsequent report that was tabled by the former executive mayor regarding rogue, clandestine and unlawful investigations that were conducted against senior managers and councillors,” Arnolds said.

Speaking shortly after his appointment, Seleka, who did not rule out the investigation into the establishment of the GFIS unit, said it was too early to tell what would happen should the investigation, which is yet to commence, find that the unit was established unlawfully.

“The terms of reference were approved by the Speaker in July 2023. These areas of investigation relate, inter alia, to the establishment of GFIS back in April 2017, its operations and the appointment of its group head as well as the acquisition of certain forensic equipment by GFIS.

“The investigation process will be governed by rules of procedure. The nature of the investigation will be inquisitorial as opposed to adversarial,” Seleka said.

In March 2023, senior department officials were suspended pending an investigation into allegations levelled against them.

A report found that there were irregularities with some of the investigations conducted by GFIS.

The speaker revealed that the issue of budget is yet to be finalised as approval lies with the city council.

“Senior counsel and his team are yet to begin their work. They only have the terms of reference. They will then look into what it is that they are going to do and will quote us based on this. We will then go to council and tell council that this is what is it is going to cost us,” she said.

“The city council would want to get the investigation under way as early as last year. There will be some public hearings and background work that need to be done prior to the public hearings.

“Once we have prioritised certain items of terms of references, we will then have to send questions to parties who should be called as witnesses as well as implicated parties, and that work starts in May as we have set aside some dates in May,” Seleka said.

The Star

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