President Jacob Zuma has appointed Lieutenant General Lesetja Mothiba as Acting National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), with immediate effect, the Presidency announced on Thursday.
The acting tenure of Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane came to an end on June 1. Zuma thanked him for leading the police during his tenure, it said in a statement.
Zuma also congratulated Mothiba, who was the police's divisional head of management intervention unit, on his new role and also wished Mothiba all the success in his new responsibility.
Mothiba is a career policeman with more than 30 years of service and served as Gauteng commissioner before being redeployed to the intervention unit.
Phahlane had denied interfering with investigations against him undertaken by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
Phahlane and Ipid director Robert McBribe faced off in Parliament in May during a police briefing in Parliament about alleged interference by Phahlane and a North West police investigating team in internal probes.
According to News24, Phahlane and Major-General Ntebo Mabula are alleged to have intimidated Ipid investigators who are looking into cases against him and others in the police.
TimesLive reported that the portfolio committee was told how Ipid investigators working on a case against Phahlane received death threats.