Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya has quit the South African Police Service while under arrest and facing criminal and disciplinary proceedings.
A lawyer delivered the 59-year-old’s resignation at a hearing on Monday, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.
Because the internal case was still under way, authorities will record his exit as a dishonourable discharge, she wrote on X.
Sibiya was detained three weeks ago. He faces accusations of sexually grooming a 16-year-old, raping an 18-year-old and human trafficking.
He rejects the claims, though he acknowledges having sex with the adult complainant, saying it was consensual.
The senior officer was suspended last year amid claims that he had ties to organised-crime figures.
He denies any wrongdoing.
Those allegations were raised at the Madlanga Commission, a public inquiry into alleged police corruption and cooperation with criminal networks.
Witnesses accused Sibiya of obstructing probes into political murders in KwaZulu-Natal and accepting cash and 20 impalas from an alleged underworld leader in return for a police contract.
He has denied receiving the gifts.
The inquiry was established by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa after KwaZulu-Natal’s police commissioner alleged at a media briefing that then-Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was working with gangs.
Mchunu has rejected the accusation and is suspended.
By: Magdalene Agyeiwaa Sarpong