Suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu has accused KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of taking a personal stand against his decision to disband the political killings task team (PKTT).
“He [Mkhwanazi] took matters personally, rather than as a police officer who would then engage openly,” Mchunu told parliament’s ad hoc committee on Tuesday.
He said the trigger for Mkhwanazi was the directive for the disbandment, followed by the arrest of crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo in June.
Khumalo’s arrest was followed by an explosive press briefing by Mkhwanazi in which he alleged that criminals have infiltrated the judicial system. The allegations led to the establishment of the Madlanga commission and the ad hoc committee, which are investigating the matter.
Mchunu told the committee that when Khumalo was arrested, Mkhwanazi sent a message to his chief of staff, Cedric Nkabinde, saying: “The gloves are off.”
During the proceedings, Mchunu was asked by some members of the committee to apologise for failing to produce a recording in which he claimed contained Mkhwanazi’s threats to him.
Committee member Julius Malema said Mchunu should either admit that he misled the committee or that he genuinely believed the recording existed.
“How do you say you will come with the part you never had? He was making us believe [in] something he never had. So had we not insisted on that part being brought, this house would have been misled,” Malema said.
Mchunu was asked whether he had managed to obtain the portion of the recording. However, he told the committee that the alleged threat occurred before the recording of their conversation began.
“It [the allegation] is only in reference because [it] was said before they started recording, but it [was said] in the conversation,” he explained.
Last week, Mchunu told the committee that Nkabinde had informed him that Mkhwanazi was angry about Mchunu’s letter disbanding the political killings task team and freezing crime intelligence appointments.
Mchunu said he then advised Nkabinde to record his conversations with Mkhwanazi.
“We don’t record people. I am not aware of anybody in my office who has ever recorded a person, but in this instance, it’s me who advised the chief of staff.”
However, the recording played last week did not contain the parts in which Mchunu alleges Mkhwanazi threatened him.
Malema insisted on Tuesday that Mchunu needed to take responsibility for his claim.
“If he made a mistake, he must say [so] to the people of South Africa ... unless he was deliberately misleading us, but if you have made an honest mistake, you have to apologise.
So had we not insisted on that part being brought, this house would have been misled.
— Committee member Julius Malema
“People have left what they were doing, waiting to come and hear a part where a general [Mkhwanazi] is threatening a minister. That’s not a simple allegation to be made and just leave it like that,” Malema said.
Mchunu eventually apologised, saying he made an honest mistake.
“I was under the impression that [that] part that I spoke about was actually there, and it was part of what was sent here. I made that mistake, and I apologise,” he said.
Sowetan
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