JOHANNESBURG - Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale has denied claims of a personal rift with suspended KZN prison boss Mnikelwa Nxele.
The commissioner said allegations against him are unsubstantiated and linked to ongoing internal investigations and legacy procurement probes.
Nxele, who recently blew the whistle on inflated food prices in the department, is now facing fraud and money laundering charges dating back to 2004.
"I have not been in loggerheads with Mnikelwa Nxele."
"He has been making spurious allegations that he could not prove, including the fact that he said he lifted the lead on high prices. He did not do that."
Nxele had previously claimed he was targeted for whistleblowing.
But Thobakgale argued that Nxele faces his own disciplinary woes.
Nxele appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, where he was granted bail of R50 000.
The court ordered Nxele not to speak to witnesses, remain at a specified address, and surrender his passport.
The matter has been postponed to 16 September.