The Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee, Soviet Lekganyane, accused a witness who appeared before the committee of abusing the parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday.

Lekganyane was echoing a statement made earlier by Patriotic Alliance MP Ashley Saul about Pheladi Matjaola for making allegations without real evidence.

“Your problem could have been stated in five minutes. What you did to us today is horribly wrong. You should have said I opened three cases with SAPS, and I am frustrated that my cases are not attended to the way I hoped, and I appeal to your leadership to help,” he said.

Lekganyane noted that Matjaola was mentioning everything when she was allowed to state her complaint and was not prepared to respond when asked questions.

“We understand the frustration you personally went through. We don’t undermine the statement you made, and suspicion of who may be behind this, but we want to plead with you, let’s give the police a chance to respond to the questions we will send to them about your matter.”

He added that they would take up her matter and get satisfactory explanations on how the criminal cases she opened have been handled.

At the start of the session, it was heard that Matjaola had disputed a statement that was circulated to the MPs on Tuesday after it was swapped with another from another anonymous witness.

Lekganyane had given her 10 to 15 minutes to state her complaint.

In her initial presentation, Matjaola stated that she was a victim of cybercrime and had made a statement to the Police Portfolio Committee last year.

She mentioned that she had a challenge with the police in Postmasburg in the Northern Cape in 2021, and was referred to the Hawks in Bellville and Pretoria.

She said the investigation had not progressed as the investigating officers left, and no update was provided to her, including one against the former CEO of Anglo American, Themba Mkhwanazi.

Matjaola claimed that her online activities were monitored and that all her job applications via email bounced, preventing her from getting employment since 2019.

“When I saw there was an opportunity for Anonymous to present, I decided to avail myself to be able to give a background of my statement,” she said.

Matjaola told the committee of people who had been threatening her family and following her daughter to and from school.

MPs sympathised with her and gave assurance that they will act on her complaint and refer it to the relevant portfolio committees and get an update from the authorities.

However, some MPs had questions about allegations she made about KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, whom she claimed interfered in cases involving Themba Mkhwanazi.

This led to Matjaola being made to take an oath and also verify the documents she sent to the committee before being quizzed about the allegations she made.

When pressed about the relationship between the Mkhwanazis, Matjaola said: “I don’t have knowledge of their relationship.”

She gave incoherent responses to a number of questions when she did not respond satisfactorily.

“You are wrong to make such allegations against General Mkhwanazi without real evidence,” said Sauls at one stage.

Lekganyane said they had felt that they should give Matjaola a chance to present her complaint as it would have been unfair for Parliament not to listen to her.

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za

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