KZN Hawks head continues court battle against suspension

Durban - An application to set aside the suspension of KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen was heard in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban on Monday.

After argument by legal teams representing Booysen and the South African Police Service, Judge Anton van Zyl adjourned the matter without passing judgment.

Booysen was suspended in September; something he insists is the latest in a string of efforts to keep him out of office.

The embattled Booysen has in the past successfully rebuffed efforts to run him out of his office.

In 2012, he successfully scuppered two attempts to suspend him with two successful high court applications.

He was arrested and suspended again late in that year, along with 28 members of the Cato Manor Serious and Violent Crimes Unit, who were accused of running a "death squad".

The case against the officers has stretched over four years, and has seen Booysen taking the fight to court again.

He successfully had racketeering charges levelled against him set aside in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban last year.

He was then exonerated from departmental charges by an advocate who chaired his disciplinary hearing, and returned to work.

In previous court applications, Booysen has insisted that there was a concerted effort to sideline him because of his investigations into a politically connected Durban businessman.

In his latest suspension, Booysen has been charged with misconduct for allegedly providing false information on reward claim forms, which essentially amount to typing errors.

Advocate Gardner van Niekerk, SC, for Booysen, argued that the decision to suspend his client was irrational and unlawful on the basis that he had no hand in drafting or signing the reward claim forms in question.

Van Niekerk argued that there was no evidence to suggest that Booysen would interfere with witnesses or important documents pertaining to his disciplinary hearing, seeking an order that the suspension be set aside.

William Mokhari, SC, for SAPS, argued that Booysen faced "serious charges" and that regulations allowed for his suspension because of this fact alone. 

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.