When the head of crime intelligence Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo was arrested and taken to court for fraud and corruption, “strange things happen[ed],” said KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi on Friday.
Friday was the third and final day of Mkhwanazi’s testimony before the judicial commission of inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system and he was testifying on why he had implicated “the judiciary” in colluding with organised crime when he gave his bombshell press conference in July.
Khumalo, who is also the convener of the political killings task team, has been charged, along with six others, with fraud and corruption relating to the appointment of an allegedly unqualified civilian, Dineo Mokwele, in a senior post.
Mkhwanazi told the commission that if South Africans read what was on the charge sheet against these officers, “they will know that this, on any given day, it should not have landed in a criminal court of law. But it is there.”
He said the presiding magistrate, Vusimuzi Mahlangu, imposed a “very bizarre bail condition” when he granted them bail — that they were barred from the premises of crime intelligence “anywhere in the Republic of South Africa”. The prosecutor had not asked for this, yet the magistrate took it upon himself to impose such a condition, he said. One of the accused was not granted bail that day and later appeared before a different magistrate who did not make the same bail condition, he added.
The accused were part of the team that was busy with the investigation at the centre of Mkhwanazi’s allegations, an investigation into a criminal cartel based in Gauteng which Mkhwanazi has alleged was colluding with politicians — in particular police minister Senzo Mchunu — and elements within law enforcement to prevent the cartel ever going to court.
“So, by default, it means that the investigation they are busy with against the drug cartel must stop immediately,” he said.
This was the only judicial officer that Mkhwanazi accused of collusion. He said while it could be said that the magistrate had simply erred, “I don’t believe it’s that. I believe it was a calculated move to make sure they put a stop on this operation”.
Since Wednesday, Mkhwanazi has testified about what he called on Friday a “concerted” effort to prevent the investigation, which was conducted under the leadership of Khumalo, under a Gauteng based counterintelligence operation of the General Crime Intelligence Operations or “GCI-ops”. When 10 members of the political killings task team were seconded to assist this investigation, it got caught in the crosshairs and became the target of those trying to shut it down.
Commission chairperson retired justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga asked why it was the political killings task team that was disbanded — if the investigation was being conducted by the GCI-ops. “If the issue is about Gauteng and the GCI-ops, how does that get disrupted if what is now being disbanded is the PKTT in KwaZulu-Natal?”
Mkwanazi responded that it was a “mis-target”.
“They were worried about the people carrying the dockets in Gauteng ... And Khumalo took the responsibility of protecting them, with the team from KZN. I suspect that the people that wanted to deal with this, they could not access them because there was this KZN squad around them. So in seeing the KZN squad, they assumed that it is the political killings task team that is running this operation.”
Mkhwanazi also explained to the panel why, when he had given his press conference, he had worn the military fatigues of the Special Task Force, instead of the blue uniform of a provincial commissioner. He said the police had to “move to being a service provider to society to becoming a force” — because of the nature of “the threat, the enemy”.
The enemy was “infiltrating crime intelligence, is infiltrating parliament and is controlling our executive authority and going into the heart of the police operations,” he said. He said more than 18 cases that had been withdrawn against Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala — a central figure in his cartel allegation. “You would really realise that you can no longer be wearing a tie and face this fight.” This was terrorism, he said.
“This is people who want to take over government, not through the ballot paper, but through these criminal activities ... if government is going to be taken over in this fashion, it cannot happen under our name. So, it’s for that reason that we wanted to communicate a message to South Africa, that we are ready. And communicate a message to these drug squads, politicians, the executive, to police officers within law enforcement agencies. that we are ready for them.”
He said he knew he had a target on his back but “angimnyonyobeli umuntu, ngimuqonda ngqo. Ushaya inja kuphume umnini wayo”. Madlanga translated this as: “I don’t sneak up on a person, I face them directly.”
The hearings continue on Monday.
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