Suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu says he is unfazed by revelations at the Madlanga commission of inquiry implicating him in alleged political interference in the criminal justice system.
Speaking at a memorial lecture commemorating two struggle stalwarts, Simon Msweli and Mike Mthethwa, in the Musa Dladla region in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday, Mchunu said he was ready to testify before the commission.
“I am glad that I will get an opportunity to present my side of the story in the commission,” said Mchunu, adding he was not shaken by the evidence implicating him.
Mchunu was suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa amid explosive allegations made against him by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Mkhwanazi accused Mchunu of interfering with SAPS operations, which led to the disbandment of the political killings task team investigating political killings in KwaZulu-Natal.
I am glad that I will get an opportunity to present my side of the story in the commission
— Senzo Mchunu, suspended police minister
He is also accused of being an associate of criminal cartels accused of seeking to capture the SAPS.
All witnesses who have been called to testify in the commission, including Mkhwanazi, national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola and SAPS crime intelligence head Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, have fingered Mchunu for allegedly interfering in police operations.
On Saturday, Mchunu, who has been suspended, appeared in public to deliver the memorial lecture commemorating Msweli and Mthethwa, who were killed by the apartheid police at kwaSokhulu outside Richards Bay in 1992 after allegedly firing shots at a police helicopter.
Mchunu also paid a visit to the family of the late South African ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, in KwaMbonambi village. Mthethwa died in Paris last week.
Mchunu expressed shock over his death.
“It is something that we never expected,” he said.
Mchunu said they worked well with Mthethwa when they were still leading the Musa Dladla region of the ANC, known then as the Northern Natal region, in the early 1990s.
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