The Ad Hoc Committee investigating corruption within South Africa’s law enforcement has wrapped up its public participation phase this week, hearing alarming testimonies from whistle-blowers, a former Crime Intelligence officer, serving police members, and a Member of Parliament.

Controversy surrounds Speaker Thoko Didiza’s decision not to authorise subpoenas to forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan and North West businessman Brown Mogotsi after they cited security concerns.

Didiza’s refusal has sparked criticism from the EFF, which likened her action to representing a dangerous surrender to intimidation, where individuals who openly display contempt for Parliament were shielded from accountability through unverified claims of security threats.

Spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said the assertions were incorrect and mischaracterised both the Didiza’s role and the legal basis upon which the decisions in question were taken.

“The Speaker’s decisions in respect of both witnesses were made after careful and considered assessment of the committee’s requests. These are not decisions that can be taken arbitrarily,” Mothapo said.

He stated that the established principle was that Parliament must act lawfully and rationally to avoid exposing its processes to unnecessary judicial review.

Mothapo also said the records before Didiza indicated that the committee did not apply its mind to the reasons O’Sullivan advanced when declining his request for a virtual appearance, and did not substantively engage with the personal security concerns regarding Mogotsi’s physical appearance before the committee.

Testifying before the committee on Tuesday, whistle-blower and former SAPS employee Patricia Mashale told MPs that she did not influence Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s decision to disband the Political Killings Task Team and that she had merely exposed corruption since 2008.

Mashale also supported allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi regarding infiltration of the criminal justice system by criminal syndicates.

“When Mkhwanazi said there was corruption in the NPA and the judiciary, he was right. I have evidence of that, especially in the Free State,” she said.

Former Crime Intelligence officer Pilasande Dotyeni implicated top senior officers in what he described as the assassination of the late deputy national commissioner of crime detection, Sindile Mfazi, whom he claimed died under the guise of Covid-19 in 2021.

Dotyeni said Mfazi died at the time he was investigating the Secret Services Account in connection with the R1.6 billion Covid-19 Personal Protective Equipment.

“There are people who know, and I will point this committee in the right direction,” he said.

“I would want to make these disclosures in a proper forum. That is important because it is a responsible investigation. I should not speak as if I am not conscious of the threats out there,” he said.

On Wednesday, three officers claimed that they were ignored by the top brass of SAPS when they reported glaring acts of criminality within the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory.

Suspended Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya has been accused of asking three officers to apologise to former divisional commissioner for forensic services, Khomotso Phahlane, when they reported criminal activities at the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory when Phahlane was the head of the division.

Colonel Darius Ramolobe, Captain Edwin Malatjie, and Captain Samuel Ramalepe fingered Sibiya, whom they claimed had asked them to apologise to Phahlane if they wanted career prospects within the SAPS.

“General Sibiya, during the meeting, proposed that we approach Lieutenant-General (Phahlane) and tender an apology in order to make our breakthrough in our career. The proposal was rejected with contempt and the meeting was adjourned,” Ramalepe said.

Testifying before the committee on Thursday, DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard denied Mkhwanazi’s allegations that she leaked classified information.

Kohler-Barnard said Mkhwanazi’s allegation against her arose from his erroneous understanding that she disclosed classified information, and that some of the information Mkhwanazi referred to had been already in the public domain before the Joint Standing Committee of Intelligence was established.

Kohler-Barnard felt Mkhwanazi owed her an apology because she could not leak out of a committee that did not exist.

“I was not happy that I have been labelled basically a criminal when in fact I believed I was doing my job, every MP has to do, which is an oversight role,” she said.

The Ad Hoc Committee will hold a housekeeping meeting on Monday, and public hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

There was no confirmed witness for next week’s public hearings yet, but committee Chairperson Soviet Lekganyane said Lieutenant-General Francina Vuma has submitted a draft affidavit.

“Those two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, I can assure you that we are to use them profitably. There is no way the legal team can come here empty-handed and say we have no witnesses,” said Lekganyane.

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za

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