Johannesburg - Suspended Hawks spokesperson McIntosh Polela has been fired from the SA Police Service over comments he made on Twitter, it emerged on Wednesday.
Beeld reported that Polela was officially fired on 27 March, but this only came to light during a response by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa to a parliamentary question.
He had been suspended on full pay since last November, when he made a controversial reference to prison rape after kwaito star Molemo Jub Jub Maarohanye was convicted of murder.
"JubJub spending 1st nite in prison. Bail has been denied after being found guilty of murder, attempted murder & racing while high," Polela tweeted.
"I trust that JubJub's supporters gave him a jar of Vaseline to take to prison," he added.
Apology
Polela declined to apologise immediately after the tweet, but apologised months later.
He had earned R323 238.41 since being suspended.
According to Beeld, Mthethwa said earlier this year that 9 835 officers suspended on full pay between 2012 and 2013 had cost the department R8.4m.
Polela was recently accused of hunting in a game reserve near Himeville and of pointing a firearm at farmers investigating the incident. He claimed he was hunting on ancestral land and laid charges of assault and the pointing of a firearm against some of the farmers.
Polela declined to comment on whether he would appeal his dismissal.
"It is an internal process about which I cannot comment," he told Beeld.
