Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations of criminal infiltration and political interference within the SA Police Service (SAPS) resumed public hearings on Tuesday, with sworn testimony by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt‑Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
The session followed a procedural delay while MPs and legal representatives resolved objections to the provenance of Mkhwanazi’s written statement. The statement was amended and accepted as an original submission to the committee before testimony proceeded. Once sworn in, Mkhwanazi gave evidence that, he said, expanded on material previously placed before the Madlanga commission, and raised new factual matters the committee must now verify.
Mkhwanazi told the committee that crime intelligence retained operational capabilities that posed a direct security concern for parliament. “Crime intelligence has gadgets till this day that are used to listen to all of you here,” he said in evidence.
He said media reporting had published classified intelligence material on property purchases linked to crime intelligence and alleged covert funds had been used for private projects, stating: “We see the homestead of the late ambassador Nathi Mthethwa on TV now, and there’s a boundary wall — that wall was built using intelligence money.”
The committee indicated it would seek financial ledgers, procurement records and title deeds to test those assertions against documentary evidence, and flagged the investigating-general of intelligence’s findings as part of the financial record to be examined.
Broader operational interference
The commissioner placed these allegations in a broader account of operational interference and the dismantling of an active investigative unit. He repeated that the political killings task team (PKTT) was disbanded by ministerial directive and that 121 case dockets were removed from the PKTT and taken to head office, where, he said, no investigative progress was made while the dockets were out of the team’s control.
Mkhwanazi confirmed he had lodged an inquiry into a possible “defeat of the ends of justice” in relation to those dockets and urged the committee to secure chain-of-custody and transfer memos for the files he described.
Mkhwanazi expanded a historical allegation involving Senzo Mchunu. He told the committee he had met Mchunu at the minister’s home before Mchunu became national police minister, and that Cedrick Nkabinde — later appointed chief of staff to the minister — had facilitated the introduction.
He linked that introduction to an earlier Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) inquiry, which he dated to about 2013-2016, concerning alleged destruction of evidence in a death inquiry during Mchunu’s tenure as KwaZulu-Natal premier. Mkhwanazi told the committee he was still verifying aspects of that account and invited the committee to subpoena Ipid files and contemporaneous records to establish the facts.
‘Operationally sensitive’
He repeated an allegation, earlier reported, that the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) contained a “rogue structure” and characterised the June arrest of crime intelligence head Maj-Gen Dumisani Khumalo as “a project” designed to frustrate investigations in Gauteng.
He named an arresting officer in his evidence and asked parliament to test his assertions against the Idac arrest dossier and the investigator’s personnel record. He told the committee that portions of the material he referenced were admissible in court while other material remained operationally sensitive and could not be made public.
Mkhwanazi named public figures of improperly handling intelligence, saying certain MPs had been in receipt of material they should not have discussed publicly, specifically naming DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard as one who had disclosed sensitive information.
He referenced a News24 analysis by Karyn Maughan and Kyle Cohen summarising inspector-general of intelligence Imtiaz Fazel’s findings, which recommended criminal and disciplinary action over R120.7m in Secret Service Account property purchases and identified senior crime intelligence officials.
Mkhwanazi criticised Kohler‑Barnard for commenting publicly on the reporting and said such matters should have been raised through the joint standing committee on intelligence rather than in open forums, warning that public disclosure risked provoking defensive disclosures by crime intelligence officers, and aspects of the News24 coverage warranted scrutiny by appropriate state security oversight structures.
Kohler Barnard must consider recusal
Committee members raised the potential conflict that such allegations created for committee participation; members including the ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli and MK party MP David Skosana asked Kohler Barnard to consider recusal where her impartiality might be affected. The committee will have to rule on recusal in line with parliamentary practice and the rules governing conflicts of interest.
Beyond allegations of misconduct, Mkhwanazi proposed institutional remedies. He recommended systematised lifestyle audits for senior police officials, more rigorous pre‑appointment vetting modelled on statutory provisions for specialist units, and a wholesale review of employment and vetting processes within SAPS. “We should all be subjected to lifestyle audits,” he told the committee, and he urged that vetting be conducted prior to appointment rather than after.
Chair Soviet Lekganyane and evidence leader advocate Norman Arendse emphasised that the committee would rely only on documents properly lodged and verified for the committee record.
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