The chief of staff in the minister of police’s office, Cedrick Nkabinde, has been accused of deliberately misleading parliament’s ad hoc committee by giving thumb-sucked dates in his affidavit and testimony.
Nkabinde appeared before the committee probing allegations of criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system.
He will now have to come back to the committee in 10 days to proceed with the hearing after MPs agreed not to continue hearing his testimony, accusing him of lying under oath.
Nkabinde admitted that he was not certain about the dates he had given the committee in his affidavit, saying he thumb sucked them. He said he was told by the evidence leader that he can estimate.
At first, Nkabinde said he facilitated a meeting between Brown Mogotsi and suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu in October/November last year to discuss trapped illegal miners in Stilfontein, North West.
He then said KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi sent him Mogotsi’s contacts in September last year while he was with Mchunu in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape.
He said Mogotsi and the minister met before the trip to Lusikisiki on September 30.
Mkhwanazi had previously testified that Mogotsi phoned him and told him that he was in Lusikisiki with Mchunu. Mkhwanazi then contacted Nkabinde, asking about Mogotsi.
In another discrepancy, Nkabinde said during a conversation with Mkhwanazi, he decided to record him. He then changed tune and said Mchunu asked him to record Mkhwanazi.
But MPs grilled him, telling them he was under oath.
EFF MP Julius Malema said: “You are deliberately misleading us. And then, we need to put that on the record — he is deliberately misleading us. It’s a shifting goalpost. When he’s caught, he says, ‘hey, I can’t remember’.”
“He is lying. October/November is a correct date because the minister went to the [Stilfontein] mine on 14 November. It is perjury; it is a lie and he needs to be arrested for lying under oath.”
ActionSA MP Dareleen James said Nkabinde was wasting the committee’s time.
“I don’t think we should continue with you today,” she said.
However, Nkabinde said he was not certain about the dates and that it was an oversight because he did not have his gadgets with him.
EFF MP Leigh-Ann Mathys said it was not an oversight but perjury.
He said her party would be opening a case against Nkabinde.
Nkabinde said he took ownership of his affidavit and that he did not do much research with regard to the dates because he had a short time during his engagements with the evidence leader.
“I think I definitely need to do a thorough homework in terms of [the dates]. Even if I estimate. It should be a true reflection. For instance, I’m even now starting to check my office and so forth. It appears that even the date of 30 September is wrong. It is becoming a mess here,” Nkabinde said.
The chairperson of the committee said that the statement Nkabinde made that he got the dates wrong because he did not have his gadgets, by any professional standard, was inexcusable.
“Especially for a person in a position like the one that you hold — of being a chief of staff, managing the day-to-day activities in the office of a minister,” he said.
Earlier, Nkabinde had also denied knowing about the WhatsApp messages between Mogotsi and criminally accused Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala, which were allegedly copied to him.
Some of the messages mentioned a “chief of staff” but Nkabinde said he was not the only chief of staff in SA.
There were also two messages that were directed to him, but Nkabinde denied them. He said the only messages he received from Mogotsi were “stupid” and were not part of the ones spoken about in the committee.
Sowetan
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