National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) director of public prosecutions for KwaZulu-Natal Elaine Harrison says her office was not formally informed about the disbandment of the political killings task team (PKTT) in the province.
Harrison is the fourth witness testifying at the Madlanga commission of inquiry investigating allegations of corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system.
Having been involved in solving PKTT cases previously, Harrison said on Friday she found out about the disbandment through social media in January.
“At that time, I said it was fake news as I was on leave,” she said. “It was floating on social media.”
She said she only received a letter from KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi on May 25 informing her about the transfer of 121 dockets to the SA Police Service (SAPS) head office in Pretoria, and not about the disbandment of the PKTT.
In the letter Mkhwanazi said: “This office wishes to apologise for the failure in executing J50 warrants in dockets among the 121 case dockets this office has discovered have been delivered to Pretoria due to a telephonic instruction received by the PKTT leader.
“It’s an unfortunate situation that this office became alerted on May 20 in a docket accountability session to the fact that all prosecution guidance has not been addressed. This office assures the office of the director of public prosecution that the whereabouts of the dockets are being investigated, and the findings will be brought to you.”
Responding to the letter, Harrison said she inquired about the disbandment of the PKTT, which was not highlighted in the initial letter.
“Kindly take note the purpose of this correspondence is related to the issue of whether the PKTT continues to exist,” the letter read.
“There have been a number of media reports where it’s been noted the PKTT has been disbanded. There has been no formal communication to the office of the national director of public prosecutions and my office on this issue. It is concerning this office remains unsure of what the position is regarding the existence of the team.”
Harrison said she was frustrated when she did not receive clarity regarding the matter.
“There was a bit of frustration at this time because a lot of work has been done. You can understand the frustration, yet nothing was coming from him.
“There had been no formal communication to me about the disestablishment of the task team other than what I saw on social media. Mkhwanazi had not addressed the disestablishment of the task team in his letter; he only referred to the removal of dockets.”
She said the PKTT had done a lot of work before it was disestablished.
“News of the disbandment emerged at a time when all the work was clearly bearing fruit, and the coordination was producing the desired results.
“An enormous amount of work has taken place to ensure necessary coordination by providing a dedicated prosecutorial team to address all the challenges that have historically been raised in response to the work of the task team.”
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