EFF leader Julius Malema said parliament’s ad hoc committee probing allegations of political interference, corruption and criminality in the criminal justice system could not rely on the same statement that Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi submitted to the Madlanga commission.
Speaking during Tuesday’s sitting, Malema said Mkhwanazi, KwaZulu-Natal's police commissioner, could not be placed under oath before submitting a statement specifically addressed to the ad hoc committee.
“I don't understand on what basis do you want Gen Mkhwanazi to take an oath. There is no statement of Gen Mkhwanazi before us. There is a statement of Gen Mkhwanazi to the commission,” he said.
“He must first depose to us a statement, and if there is anything to be supplemented, then it will be done so. The statement we have is one he deposed to the commission.”
Malema blamed the committee’s legal team.
“We are not juniors of the [Madlanga] commission. We have nothing to do with what the commission is doing. We are a committee of parliament.
“Now you want to use material sourced by a commission established by the executive, which is a separate arm of the state. It is wrong, it is unconstitutional. We have to do things properly. The proper way is that there must be an original statement to us as an ad hoc committee.
I don't understand on what basis do you want Gen Mkhwanazi to take an oath. There is no statement of Gen Mkhwanazi before us. There is a statement of Gen Mkhwanazi to the commission
— Julius Malema, EFF leader
“We can even say to Gen Mkhwanazi that the first pages of that commission statement – where it’s directed to the commission – can be amended to refer to the ad hoc committee of parliament. Then it becomes our property.”
Committee member and MK Party MP David Skhosana agreed, saying they were not a sub committee of the Madlanga commission.
“Now we are told there is a supplementary. A cut and paste is not acceptable as well. We are letting the country down because it is like we don't know what we are doing,” he said.
The ad hoc committee's evidence leader Adv Norman Arendse said a supplementary statement had been prepared because much of the factual background was already covered extensively by evidence leaders at the Madlanga commission of inquiry.
He said the committee’s approach would differ from that of the commission.
Arendse said there would be more engagement with Mkhwanazi in relation to the issues that form part of the allegations, and different versions will be put to him.
During his media briefing in July, Mkwanazi accused police minister Senzo Mchunu, who has been placed on special leave, of meddling in police operations.
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