The political killings task team (PKTT) has been accused of lacking transparency and fabricating evidence.
Violence monitor and researcher Mary de Haas, who appeared before parliament’s ad hoc committee on Tuesday, said she had heard “horror stories” and “human suffering” linked to the task team’s operations.
De Haas, who has been critical of the task team, claimed people she had spoken to reported emotional and physical abuse.
According to De Haas, police officers allegedly targeted by the task team were subjected to psychological and emotional pressure.
“I have been told by virtually everyone I’ve interacted with – they [task team] just come in and search without a warrant.”
She said the team was also accused of taking people’s phones without producing a court order.
“This was a common allegation. This is illegal,” she said, adding that community members reported harassment.
In an affidavit read out by evidence leader Adv Norman Arendse, De Haas said her research confirmed close links between political and taxi violence in KwaZulu-Natal, with taxi hitmen allegedly deployed in political attacks.
“It is a cause for great concern that despite the availability of information about such activities, little progress has been made in bringing perpetrators to justice,” she said in her affidavit.
De Haas added that the work of PKTT has stirred controversy with allegations of selective arrests and investigations that have had “little impact” in exposing those behind the violence.
Arendse said De Haas had become “quite a critic of the PKTT.”
De Haas said her core concern was the lack of transparency and that she did not know how the team defined their cases.
“I have heard they have taken dockets that have got nothing to do with politics. I have no idea what base they’re working from.”
She gave an example of a family claiming they were abused by members of the task team who were trying to obtain statements from them.
During his testimony, suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu told the committee that several people, including De Haas, had approached him over policing matters.
He said De Haas had written extensively to the department, calling for the disbandment of the PKTT.
De Haas said she wrote the letters because she was “horrified” by the stories she was told.
She said she heard about Mchunu’s 31 December 2024 letter to disband the team on January 2 via a police WhatsApp group.
“I was amazed; I was astonished,” she said.
Sowetan
