Parliament’s Mkhwanazi probe begins under ANC leadership, sparking opposition criticism

Opposition MPs have questioned the appointment of an ANC MP as the chairperson of Parliament’s ad hoc committee set up to probe KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s allegations of police corruption.

ANC MP and National Executive Committee member Soviet Lekganyane was elected as the committee’s chairperson at its first meeting on Tuesday, 5 August.

During the meeting, ActionSA MP Dereleen James said that electing an ANC MP to lead the committee wouldn’t help build public trust in its work.

“We need to start off on the right foot, but how do we garner public trust here this morning when we have a chairperson that has been elected from the very party where most of these people are embroiled?” asked James.

The National Assembly last month agreed to set up the ad hoc committee to investigate Mkhwanazi’s claims after a joint meeting of Parliament’s police committee and its justice and constitutional development committee recommended its formation.

Read more: ‘SA will see fire if anything happens to Mkhwanazi’ — Parliament hears warning sentiment from MP

At a press conference in early July, Mkhwanazi alleged that a drug cartel based in Gauteng was controlling a high-level criminal syndicate that extended into the South African Police Service, the Police Ministry, Parliament, official prison structures, the judiciary and other law-enforcing authorities.

He also alleged that Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, along with several others, had undermined investigations into political killings and organised crime.

Mchunu has been placed on special leave until a separate judicial commission of inquiry, led by Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, makes its findings. He has denied the accusations.

Professor Firoz Cachalia, the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council’s chairperson and a former Gauteng community safety MEC, has been appointed as acting police minister.

Read more: Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and the shape of things to come

The ad hoc committee has been given 90 days to conclude its work. Lekganyane told MPs: “All the hopes of the people of this country are on us.”

Missed opportunity

EFF and MK MPs on Tuesday agreed with James that an ANC member should not have been appointed to lead the committee. EFF leader and member of the ad hoc committee, Julius Malema, was also nominated as chairperson during the meeting, but declined.

Echoing James’ statements, EFF MP Leigh-Ann Mathys said: “It was an opportunity that was missed by the GNU [Government of National Unity] partners, starting with the ANC, to build confidence in the country, particularly on this horrific issue of crime.”

In a statement on Monday, 4 August, the EFF had called for the committee to be chaired by an MP who is not a member of one of the GNU parties.

The party said that Parliament had, on multiple occasions, “failed to act decisively in moments of national significance”, functioning less as “an independent arm of the state and more as an extension of the executive.

“It is for this reason that the leadership and composition of this committee are so crucial. Parliament must reclaim its role as a true oversight body, not a shield for executive wrongdoing. This is why the EFF believes the credibility and integrity of this ad hoc committee will be best preserved if it is chaired by a member of Parliament who is not part of the Government of National Unity.”

Read more: Mkhwanazi’s warning — drug cartel, criminal syndicate infest SA law enforcement

In a statement following the meeting, ActionSA said it “noted” Lekganyane’s appointment, but believed that the committee should not be chaired by an MP of a party whose members are “directly implicated” in the allegations that are being investigated.

“We remain guided by the cautionary view that it would have been more appropriate for this role to be filled by a member of a party whose senior leadership is not implicated in the serious allegations that fall within the committee’s scope of work,” said ActionSA.

In a response to questions from Daily Maverick about the outcomes ActionSA wanted following the committee’s conclusion, James said it wanted to see “the full unfiltered ventilation of the allegations” during the process.

“The committee’s work must be exhaustive, and it must compel testimony under oath and the receipt of evidence to establish the true extent to which criminal elements have infiltrated law enforcement and the broader government machinery.

“In reflecting on the experience of the Zondo Commission, whose recommendations effectively placed the burden of action on the executive, we contend that this committee’s outcomes must result in binding recommendations that strengthen Parliament’s role as the primary oversight and accountability body which must ensure rigorous scrutiny of the implementation of those outcomes, be it dismissal, prosecution or legislative action,” she said.

‘Prima facie evidence’

The committee agreed to meet next week to finalise its terms of reference, and that political parties have until Friday, 8 August, to make inputs.

After the meeting, FF Plus MP Wouter Wessels told Daily Maverick that the party expected the terms of reference to be “concise and workable” to allow for a focused investigation into the allegations.

“We need to find out if there’s any prima facie evidence of truth to those allegations,” he said.

Read more: MPs recommend that ad hoc committee probes Mkhwanazi’s allegations within 90 days

The ANC chief whip, Mdumiseni Ntuli, said that draft terms of reference were presented to and adopted by the National Assembly without amendment.

“However, now that there is an ad hoc committee, it was expected that political parties might have interests in shaping the final terms of reference. For our part, as the African National Congress, we will wait and see the drafted terms of reference by the parliamentary legal division to determine if and when there is a need to strengthen them,” he said. DM