Dianne Kohler-Barnard expecting apology from Lt-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi — but will she get it?
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard says she expects an apology when KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi appears before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, IOL reported that Mkhwanazi would appear before the committee to respond to serious allegations he made during a media briefing in July.
Mkhwanazi, along with national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, forms part of the first group of witnesses scheduled to testify before the committee.
Last month, the Ad Hoc Committee was embroiled in a heated debate over whether Kohler-Barnard should recuse herself. The controversy stemmed from Mkhwanazi’s public accusation at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that Kohler-Barnard had disclosed classified crime intelligence information — an allegation she has strongly denied.
The question of her continued membership on the committee has since become a flashpoint, raising concerns about possible conflicts of interest and the ethical standards guiding the parliamentary inquiry.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika on Monday, ahead of Mkhwanazi’s appearance, Kohler-Barnard said she hopes the provincial police commissioner will retract his claims.
“I am hoping that perhaps tomorrow (Tuesday) he will finally apologise or retract the claim that he made on that initial day at the Madlanga Commission where he claimed I had broken the law and I was a criminal, and I was part of a criminal syndicate,” Kohler-Barnard told the television news channel.
“We will see tomorrow, he is up first and will be on for the whole day. Certainly we cannot have SAPS members attempting to shut down parliamentarians doing their job.”
However, Kohler-Barnard noted that she is not holding her breath for an apology.
Mkhwanazi’s appearance comes as the Madlanga Commission has been adjourned until October 13, following the illness of Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo, who was unable to continue his testimony last Thursday.
He made the remarks at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System, chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and held at the Bridgette Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria.
At the commission, Mkhwanazi claimed that Kohler-Barnard had used classified intelligence to launch probes and fuel attacks against the Crime Intelligence division.
He said the DA MP, as a long-serving parliamentarian, should have known the proper channels for raising such matters.
“What we see here is a person who has a legal obligation to keep her mouth shut and go to the joint standing committee and present and ventilate and hold the division account. But she does not use that platform, but goes publicly and discloses this,” he said.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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