Parliament’s police portfolio committee failed to act on allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi about political interference in the SAPS earlier this year.
This is according to the evidence of SAPS legal division representative Maj-Gen Petronella van Rooyen at the Madlanga commission of inquiry on Thursday.
“That the portfolio committee didn’t act on that is a failure of their mandate,” Van Rooyen said.
“If they had initiated an investigation or called the management of the police to come and explain, that would have been an exercise of oversight on their part to ensure the matter received attention.”
During a virtual portfolio committee meeting in March, Mkhwanazi told parliament about alleged political interference and criminality in the criminal justice system.
The matter was not attended to until July when Mkhwanazi held a startling media briefing, implicating senior police officials in corruption and political interference.
He accused police minister Senzo Mchunu and deputy national police commissioner for crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya of being behind the disbandment of the political killings task team. jh
After that, an ad hoc committee was established in parliament to investigate the matter, including calling Mkhwanazi to appear before the committee.
However, Mkhwanazi’s availability to appear before the committee has been a matter of contention since he had to appear before the commission of inquiry last week and said he would only be available after that.
This did not sit well with MPs who argued Mkhwanazi should be subpoenaed to appear before the committee.
“We must make one point clear. We are not going to be told by Mkhwanazi what must happen and what must not happen,” EFF leader Julius Malema said. “If we are looking for him, we must find him, and he’s going to make himself available. We are going to make him available. He’s the one who started this mess and he’s going to have to take responsibility.”
The ad hoc committee has no later than October 31 to present its findings to the National Assembly.
