Member of Parliament (MP) Sibonelo Nomvalo, from the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, feels that the testimony from former police minister Bheki Cele has discredited the grounds on which suspended Minister Senzo Mchunu took to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

Nomvalo is part of Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating the allegations made by SAPS KwaZulu-Natal provincial head Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

Cele was the minister of Police from February 2018 to June 17, 2024, preceding the tenure of Mchunu.

Cele started with his testimony on Thursday, touching on the PKTT and his connections with Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

“What we can make about his testimony is that he has actually discredited the ground upon which Mchunu relied for his decision that he took on the 31st of December,” Nomvalo said.

“Mchunu relied on four things. The first one is that he claims to have constitutional powers to make the decision that he took on that day. The second one, he claims that there are complaints that he received from members of the public – one of those was a complaint from Mary de Haas, a complaint from Patricia Mashale, and he says the other complaint he cannot reveal because of its nature. Some people requested not to be revealed for their safety.

“The third one for his decision was budgetary concerns, as he had some budgetary concerns, and the fourth one is that there was a 2019 work study that was done,” Nomvalo said.

“The work study, by virtue of its structure, nullified the existence of the PKTT. Now, if you analyse the evidence that has been submitted here by the former minister of Police, Bheki Cele, it discredits all those grounds.

“Firstly, he says the minister does not have any authority to take that decision, it is an operational matter. He says secondly, the same thing that we had put to Minister Mchunu, that the allegations are untested allegations from members of the public, we were reduced to gossip as the committee,” Nomvalo said.

“We had to analyse Facebook posts, and it was going to be better if those complaints (of De Haas and Mashale) were subjected to a thorough investigative process.”

Nomvalo said that as an Ad Hoc committee, they are in attendance to analyse reports of an investigation and/or the report of a forensic investigation, not that of Facebook posts.

“He has actually, in summary, discredited all the grounds upon which the minister relied, and the unfortunate part is that even the minister himself could not take us into confidence because he was full of contradictions,” Nomvalo said.

“I mean, just on a simple question of a definition of immediately. He will (go on to) just give you a context.”

Nomvalo said that there have been three witnesses thus far who have actually discredited the evidence of the minister (Mchunu).

“Like we have been saying previously, this is for South Africans to see for themselves because all this is displayed in cameras. It’s broadcast so people can identify the truth from lies.”

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za

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