Member of Parliament (MP) Dereleen James has voiced her frustrations with how her questioning of suspended Minister Senzo Mchunu went on Wednesday, feeling like he was unable to answer a simple question that she posed.

James, from ActionSA, was the second MP of the day to question Mchunu as he appeared at Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating the allegations made by SAPS KwaZulu-Natal provincial head Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi for a fourth day.

She grilled him on a host of matters ranging from an operational budget of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), its duties, the environment within the SAPS, and his alleged connections with Brown Mogotsi and Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

Her questioning was deemed as being so intensive that the committee Chairperson, Molapi Soviet Lekganyane, said: “I want to request you, Honourable James, not to breathe heavily on the neck of the witness. Footsteps are allowed in a race, but when you breathe heavily on the neck of the witness, that may distract their train of thought. I just want to request that you do not breathe heavily on the neck of the witness.”

James said: “I think I’m very frustrated. Two things: the fact that I know that I have a limited time, and the fact that you have to ask one question five times, which obviously seeps into your time for your remaining questions.

“The fact that I have a minister asking me four times to repeat myself, when I posed a simple question to him, (the question being) can he give us the reassurance that should his phone be taken in, that there would be no communication, no evidence linking him with anyone (being investigated by the Gauteng Counter-Intelligence Unit and its investigations into cartels).

“That is a simple question. Why couldn’t he answer it? Why did the chair have to translate it? Eventually, I just had to say, let’s pass this question. It’s been very frustrating from that end,” James said.

She added that she remains uncertain that the committee is making strides in achieving its objectives, and the truth behind the disbandment of the PKTT.

“There are days when I leave this Ad Hoc Committee, where I ask myself what was actually said today. The long-winded responses by the minister – you ask him a simple question, and it takes him 10 minutes to respond. So you don’t get the actual evidence that you require to make an informed decision. That is a concern to me, and the fact that the chairperson allows these long-winded answers and responses that basically don’t even answer the question at most times.

“I was just saying to my colleagues earlier on, it seems as though only at the end of all the hearings and all the testimonies, only then will we be able to put the pieces together. But in terms of are they (the witnesses) credible? Are they fit for office at this point? It’s a definite no.”

James also used her questions to touch on violence on the Cape Flats, which has seen three young men being shot and killed in Gugulethu on Tuesday night, following weeks of mass shootings in the Western Cape.

The triple killing adds to a growing list of deadly shootings that have rocked the Cape Flats in recent months. In August, Western Cape police said more than 30 people had been killed in Cape Town over the past two months in a wave of mass shootings.

“The minister almost used the Cape Flats (as an example) every time he spoke between the minister (Mchunu), and (Lieutenant-General Shadrack) Sibiya. Every day they touched on the Cape Flats, saying that, ‘we’d much rather have task teams deployed to these areas’. Sort of putting it out there that he’s so concerned about these areas.

“These areas have been in this state for the longest time. Why now use this to piggyback off as his reasoning for the disbandment of the PKTT? Knowing very well that to date, whether it happens or not, there’s still nothing gonna happen on the Cape Flats?”

The Democratic Alliance’s Ian Cameron added: “Minister Mchunu made it quite challenging to understand certain things and exactly where he stands on certain matters; some answers were vague or even doubtful.

“I do, although, think that it has given us more context on what is really going on in the SAPS in terms of internal politics and obviously corruption. It is becoming increasingly clear that factional battle lines are more defined than ever before.”

Thulani Shongwe from the uMkhonto weSizwe Party added that they found Mchunu’s testimony “deeply disappointing and has only served to obscure critical issues rather than illuminate them”.

“His repeated denials of connections to figures like Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and Brown Mogotsi ring hollow against the weight of prior evidence presented by witnesses such as Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi and Lt-Gen Khumalo, who have detailed how criminal cartels influenced decisions within the Ministry of Police.

“Mchunu’s failure to produce promised audio recordings of alleged threats from Mkhwanazi, coupled with his admission of lacking direct evidence, undermines his credibility and suggests an attempt to evade accountability,” Shongwe said.

“Far from providing clarity on the unlawful disbandment of the PKTT, his responses have highlighted procedural irregularities, such as issuing directives without consulting key operational leaders like National Commissioner Fannie Masemola or Mkhwanazi himself. This has only deepened suspicions of external pressures at play, leaving the committee and the public with more questions than answers.”

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za

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