Officials at the police watchdog, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), are circulating sexually explicit jokes about President Thabo Mbeki on the organisation's internal email, a senior official of the ICD alleges.
He has laid a formal complaint with the police, alleging the jokes are "grossly disrespectful and amount to crimen injuria".
One joke referred to Mbeki seeking callgirls in the grounds of the Union Buildings, and contained various four-letter words.
Others were cartoons of people having sex, and at least one of children fondling each other.
Omar Lalla, a long-serving employee in the Western Cape office of the ICD, said he had decided to blow the whistle on colleagues because the ICD "should protect the dignity of women and children" and because it "should never be involved in activities that undermine the dignity of the president".
He produced a copy of the affidavit that formed part of the criminal complaint he lodged with police at Caledon Square on Wednesday.
Among the documents submitted by Lalla were copies of emails between several ICD staffers, including senior staff in the Cape Town office.
These emails, he said, "refer to President Mbeki in a very ugly and undignified manner".
Lalla stated in his affidavit that he had had several fall-outs with fellow workers over explicit drawings and photos of a sexual nature sent to him in office hours.
He said he decided to object because he "did not wish to be an accessory to the crime of possessing and disseminating pornographic material".
Lalla, who was a finalist in the Cape Argus competition City of Angels two years ago, for his work among abused children, said another reason for reporting the matter was that some of the materials directly impacted on his work against child abuse.
"I was particularly angered by two transmissions ... one depicting children performing sexual acts, since I too, am a father, and hold strong views on the abuse of children."
Lalla described the emails as "a total abuse of government resources and property", adding that colleagues had "crossed the line and violated the dignity of the president".
"The second transmission was the one where President Mbeki was the subject of a sexual joke.
"I felt that as an ANC (African National Congress) member and a committed government official, this was grossly insulting to the struggle for democracy and highly hypocritical, since we are all part of the government."
The President's Office has been given copies of the affidavit and the material which referred to the president.
It had not yet responded at the time of going to press.
