Acting national Hawks head Maj-Gen Berning Ntlemeza will appeal a court ruling that overturned the suspension of Gauteng Hawks boss Maj-Gen Shadrack Sibiya, the police unit’s lawyer said on Sunday.

The appeal would be filed in the High Court in Pretoria on Monday, William Mokhari said.

“There was no legal or factual basis for that conclusion,” Mokhari said of Judge Elias Matojane’s ruling that Sibiya’s suspension was unlawful.

On Friday he ruled that Sibiya’s suspension was unconstitutional, invalid and unlawful.

Matojane also declared invalid the appointment of Maj-Gen Elias Dlamini to replace Sibiya as acting Gauteng head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks).

Ntlemeza suspended Sibiya pending an investigation into his alleged role in the illegal rendition of Zimbabweans to that country’s police in 2010.

Sibiya claimed in an affidavit that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate had exonerated him from any involvement in the rendition, and that he did not know why he was suspended.

Last month, another high court judge ruled that Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko’s decision to suspend Hawks boss Anwa Dramat was invalid and unlawful.

Earlier this month, the High Court in Pretoria dismissed Nhleko’s application for leave to appeal the overturning of Dramat’s suspension.

Dramat was suspended on December 23, pending a probe into his alleged involvement in the illegal rendition of four Zimbabweans in November 2010. SAPA