Mkhwanazi could be a whistleblower who should be protected by law

Acting minister of police Firoz Cachalia says when he saw KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in his camouflage Task Force uniform at his July 6 media briefing, he thought of a coup d’etat.

He said while Mkhwanazi’s appearance that day worried him, he could be a whistleblower who should be protected by law.

“When I saw that image, and of course what was being said, and it wasn’t just the military fatigues, but the fact that they were armed and so forth, my initial impression was, what’s going on? I mean, is this South Africa? It conjured up images in my mind of a kind of coup d’etat,” he said.

Cachalia was testifying before the ad hoc committee investigating allegations of criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system.

He also said in a democracy, there should be a clear separation between the political authority and military.

“I also said that the issues that he raised were extremely important and that if it turns out to have been correct, and the evidence so far before the Madlanga commission, not only by the general himself, but also particularly by those three witnesses [ Witness A, B and C], who apparently corroborated what he said, I would say that there is already sufficient, compelling evidence in the public domain which suggests that he was behaving as a whistleblower who should then be protected by the law.”

Cachalia said Mkhwanazi was intervening in a political space, which he would not recommend as a minister.

General Mkhwanazi intervened in the public domain because he felt that his options, apparently, were being exhausted.
— Acting minister of police Firoz Cachalia

“Police officers in a disciplined police organisation respect the authority structure. Where there are concerns, therefore, they raise that matter with their immediate superiors and so forth.

“We have got to be careful about even the symbolism of an approach like that [how Mkhwanazi was dressed]. For me, as a democrat, wanting to protect the civilian space was a concern when I saw it. The task force was effective, or it was doing its work, before that press conference.

“General Mkhwanazi intervened in the public domain because he felt that his options, apparently, were being exhausted. He had come before parliament in March; he raised his issues and there were obstacles to these matters being ventilated in the public domain.

Cachalia said when he met Mkhwanazi, he told him that it was an honour to meet him because he had displayed some extraordinary courage, which Cachalia said is what is required at the moment.

Cachalia said SA could never win its fight against corruption until it is able to show people that there were consequences.

He said while the public needed to support police efforts against mafia-type cartels, the public needed to be convinced that the brazen cases of corruption were being investigated and prosecuted.

But, for now, the country was not seeing those things yet, he said.

He said they were learning the truth about Tembisa Hospital corruption too late when the harm has already been done. “That institution has been destroyed by corruption,” he said, adding that it has been infiltrated by criminal cartels.

Sowetan