Parliament’s ad hoc committee probing allegations made by KZN police chief Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of corruption and abuse of power in the police force has been warned of rendering itself “junior” to the Madlanga commission of inquiry.
The warning was sounded by the EFF and ActionSA during the meeting of the ad hoc committee set up by parliament to investigate Mkhwanazi’s explosive allegations, in which he implicated members of the police's highest echelons, suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu and former police minister Bheki Cele.
At the heart of the issue is Mkhwanazi’s availability to appear before the parliamentary ad hoc committee, as he is also due to appear before the judicial commission of inquiry led by justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, between September 17 and September 22.
Mkhwanazi is next week due to appear before the Madlanga commission as its first witness, as it begins its inquiry.
It was for this reason that Mkhwanazi told the ad hoc committee he was not available to appear before it during that period, when they invited him to appear before September 22.
Parliament’s ad hoc committee is also hoping to secure him as its first witness as part of its own parallel but independent probe.
This did not sit well with EFF leader Julius Malema and ActionSA’s Dereleen James, who both argued that Mkhwanazi should then be subpoenaed to appear before the ad hoc committee, due to its terms of reference.
Malema and James fumed after parties such as the ANC, MKP, DA, IFP and the Freedom Front expressed reluctance to summon Mkhwanazi, arguing it was premature to do so at this stage.
“You are playing with the public, you created a committee, creating an impression that you are doing something when you are doing nothing,” said Malema.
“The reality is that you don’t want Mkhwanazi and even when that time comes, you are going to start other excuses. There is nothing that stops Mkhwanazi from coming to us. You have now created an impression that this commission is bigger than us and we as parliament must be going to the commission. But because you're scared ... you feel inferior, you want to hear from the commission because you can’t stand on your own.
“So we maintain that Mkhwanazi must be subpoenaed,” argued Malema.
James, an ActionSA MP, came out in support of Malema.
“Let us subpoena [Lt-]Gen Mkhwanazi in the best interests of the republic, we want to know who is distributing drugs in our communities. We want to get this process going, we can’t delay,” she said.
In the end, ANC MP and chair of the committee, Soviet Lekganyane, ruled that “the route to subpoena Gen Mkhwanazi is not desirable”.
“[Lt-]Gen Mkhwanazi is not refusing to appear before the committee; unfortunately he finds himself in the situation he is in because both arms of the state, parliament and the executive, have appointed an ad hoc committee and a commission, respectively, which makes his life very difficult. So we will wait for [Lt-]Gen Mkhwanazi to be available to appear before the committee.”
Earlier, the FF Plus’s Wouter Wessels warned against a “back and forth” and “locking of horns” between the ad committee and the Madlanga inquiry.
Findings and recommendations of parliamentary ad hoc committees are legally binding whereas those of commissions of inquiry are not.
The ad hoc committee has no later than October 31 to present its finding to the National Assembly.
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