The national head for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya, and management held a media briefing to outline and take stock of milestones achieved since his appointment in 2018.
BETWEEN the 2018/19 and 2021/22 financial years, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) arrested more than 12,000 people with close to 5,000 convictions.
Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya on Tuesday briefed the media on the progress of the unit since his appointment.
Lebeya said the Hawks were investigating 22,477 cases with more than half a million charges; of those 12,360 had already been secured at court while 11,159 were still pending to be approached.
“Of the cases under investigation, 1,998 have reached decision stage where the National Prosecuting Authority is applying its mind,” he said.
Regarding corruption, Lebeya said it was strengthening its fight via the Anti-Corruption Task Team and Operational Committee have been revitalised in order to fast-track criminal investigation, prosecution and asset recovery.
Highlighting one of the Hawks’ major cases, Lebeya noted the current corruption case against former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and others in relation to a tender scandal amounting to over R300 million.
He further highlighted the Venda Building Society or VBS bank saga which has seen the arrests of 27 suspects so far.
Addressing the issue of staff shortages, Lebeya said during its inception in 2009, the head count of the personnel in the DPCI was 2,663 while in 2018, the number shrunk to 2,535. This number is now standing at 2,672.
“As we speak, we have advertised more than 200 posts. We shall continually advertise vacant and funded posts to address these identified gaps,” he said.
Read the full speech here.
