
Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on Friday stuck to his guns in defending his decision not to consult cabinet ministers and senior police management prior to ordering the disbandment of a task team investigating political killings.
Mchunu told parliament’s ad hoc committee probing allegations of corruption in the policing system that he did not breach any laws by not consulting the relevant senior police management including national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and crime intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo, among others.
“I didn’t breach any law and I do want us to have an agreement, I do want us to have an agreement or consensus that because I didn’t convene a meeting with general Fannie Masemola, general Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and general Dumisani Khumalo, it does not constitute an offense,” he said.
He added that a feeling of guilt should not be imposed on him because he hadn’t consulted the relevant people.
Masemola, Mkhwanazi and Khumalo have all accused Mchunu of interfering with police operational matters. They argued that Mchunu did not have any powers to disband the task team as this was not within his scope as a minister, with the decision solely lying with Masemola.
On Friday Mchunu said he had briefed President Cyril Ramaphosa on the disbandment after the fact, and that he agreed with the briefing he gave him.
Mchunu has been accused of disbanding the task team to protect underworld figures including Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, who is alleged to have funded his trip for the ANC January 8 celebration in Cape Town earlier this year.
In 2018, due to the rise of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal, Ramaphosa established an inter-ministerial team which included ministers of justice, police, defence and intelligence, and this is when the task team was born.
But five months into his tenure as a police minister last year, Mchunu seems to have disbanded the team without consulting these ministers.
“This is a political task team in SAPS (South African Police Service). Don’t equate it to overall policing in South Africa to make me feel guilty that I didn’t consult on the team specifically in the dedicated manner in a day, don’t make me feel guilty because I’m not guilty for that,” Mchunu told parliament on Friday.
“There are no ministers in the inter-ministerial committee in the seventh administration, which featured in the sixth administration as a structure that presided over the steering committee or any other structure below on the (task team).
“You are not the president, you can’t just convene and say you are older than me in the cabinet and I want you to come and discuss with me some matter, it doesn’t work like that.”
Mchunu said he stood by his decision to disband the team as he was worried that it was wasting tax payers’ money.
“When I wrote this letter, I was five months into a five-year term and it was necessary. I still say I stand by my decision, it was legitimate and it was proper that I raised these matters because I felt that we may even be breaching the PMFA [Public Finance Management Act].”
During Friday’s inquiry in parliament, a recording of a conversation between Mchunu’s chief of staff Cedric Nkabinde and Mkwanazi was played as part of what the suspended police minister said was evidence of threats made by the KwaZulu-Natal commissioner. The clip played on Friday however did not corroborate this claim.
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema urged the minister and his team to bring the relevant clip before the committee next week.