ANC Chief Whip, Mdumiseni Ntuli, said while forensic examiner Paul O’Sullivan still has a lot to clarify to Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee, he has found his testimony to have been quite interesting thus far. 

Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating allegations made by SAPS KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, was packed full as many MPs came to listen to O’Sullivan’s testimony. 

He had touched on how he once trained President Cyril Ramaphosa as a police reservist during the early years of South Africa’s democratic era, but also detailed how he came to be a South African citizen during the 1990s when he was in his 20s.

Ntuli said that an atypical 20-year-old is more or less formed as an adult, as “you are largely informed with what is happening in the world and in your own surroundings, and that he took a decision consciously at that time to leave his own native country for South Africa”.

“It is very difficult to reconcile that with what he says in his own affidavit about being a very strong proponent of justice. He defines himself as a fighter against injustice, yet he chose to come to South Africa at that time.

“He was almost unconscious of developments in the country, especially as they affected black people in this country. It’s quite astonishing on my part.

“But I’m very happy as well, on the other hand, that he has withdrawn from the earlier position that he’s not going to take questions from some of the MPs – whatever views he holds about some of us – but that he is now taking questions from all of us. I think it’s a step in the right direction. We’re still at the early stages of his affidavit. The proceedings were very slow,” Ntuli said.

“I would imagine that the evidence leaders are going to say it because we were also making a lot of interventions in between. I mean, that document is about 64/65 pages, and as you can see, they’re still quoting paragraph 20, paragraph 30, so we’re still at an early stage. 

“We are yet to see what, really, is contained there and how we supplement what is on the affidavit through the answers he provides to us.” 

Ntuli also touched on the committee’s decision to seek an extension until March 6, with a proposed revised timeline of witnesses, which included fellow MP, Fadiel Adams, O’Sullivan’s assistant, Sarah Jane-Trent, Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili, and Mkhwanazi.

The matter of an extension arose following concerns from Parliament’s calendar interrupting the committee proceedings. The Ad Hoc committee will take a break after Wednesday, as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) is occurring on Thursday.

There will be no hearings next week as the SONA debate and SONA reply are scheduled from Monday to Wednesday. Thereafter, the tabling of the Budget by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is set for Thursday.

“We discussed on Monday because the evidence leader and his team gave us a breakdown of the witnesses we still have to see. And we recognise the fact that when you look at that list and consider the time we have to work on it, it’s inevitable that we will not be able to finish if we don’t ask for an extension.

“Especially because we wanted to leave next week more or less cleared so that we can participate in the debate on the SONA and then not be hampered by the work of the committee. Because of those reasons, we are of the view that the team must give us a final presentation, which they haven’t done yet, so that we can justify that extension when we make a submission to the Speaker as well as the National Assembly,” Ntuli said.

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za

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