By Johnathan Paoli
Former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) head Robert McBride told Parliament that while he has an association with forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, claims that O’Sullivan controlled or directed IPID investigations were a “fiction”, as MPs repeatedly pressed him on the nature of their relationship during a tense sitting of the ad hoc committee probing corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system.
Questioned by ANC MP Thokozile Sokanyile on how long he had known O’Sullivan, McBride said he had known him since 2014, shortly after his appointment to IPID, after engaging with what he described as O’Sullivan’s “provocations” around the previous leadership of the watchdog.
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McBride characterised the relationship as professional rather than personal, saying: “He is a certified fraud examiner. He assists with forensic analysis of documents and does the work that investigative journalists do to uncover corruption. He is actually quite obsessed with that”.
Pressed on whether he regarded O’Sullivan as a friend and why he attended a braai hosted by him, McBride replied: “Usually around Christmas time people have braais. I like O’Sullivan – he is nutty and full of jokes.”
He denied that O’Sullivan influenced his decision-making as IPID head, saying: “There is no one on earth who can influence me to do wrong things”.
McBride acknowledged that some of the information supplied by O’Sullivan proved useful, but insisted it did not translate into operational control.
“It is a fiction created by Phahlane that O’Sullivan controlled IPID,” he said.
He added that O’Sullivan did not have access to confidential IPID information and did not form part of physical investigations, apart from pointing investigators to what was allegedly a crime scene at former acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane’s house.
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When asked whether O’Sullivan and his assistant, Sarah Jane Trent, impersonated IPID officers, McBride said: “That is Phahlane’s allegation, but not what the Crime Intelligence officers who investigated it found”.
He also confirmed that he knew Trent well, saying her role was limited to archiving information.
The focus then shifted to allegations of political interference by former police minister Nathi Nhleko, which McBride described as systemic and sustained.
“I noticed political interference within IPID a few months after my appointment at IPID. At the time, the minister of police was Minister Nhleko. In August 2014, Minister Nhleko established a reference group which was tasked to investigate investigations of IPID, amongst other things,” McBride said.
McBride told MPs that the move resulted in IPID itself being investigated while probing politically sensitive cases.
“He should have backed off. What is his business to check how we investigate?” he asked.
In response to questions about the controversial rendition case involving former IPID head Anwa Dramat and former Crime Intelligence boss Shadrack Sibiya, McBride said: “I don’t know what goes on in the mind of Nkosinathi Nhleko. I have no clue”.
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He noted that the courts later invalidated Nhleko’s suspension of him, though some MPs indicated they were not persuaded by that outcome.
A particularly heated exchange followed when McBride reiterated claims that Nhleko’s former chief of staff, Leon Mbangwa, had interfered with IPID investigations and was using false documentation at the time.
“My audacity is based on fact. When I was appointed Nhleko’s chief of staff, Mbangwa was still using a false passport”.
When it was put to him that Mbangwa later produced DNA evidence showing he was South African, McBride responded: “That is not my problem. He might have managed to sneak his way in”.
The final part of McBride’s testimony centred on KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, against whom McBride made some of his most serious allegations.
He told the committee that Mkhwanazi had attempted to improperly influence an IPID investigator.
“KwaZulu-Natal top cop Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi offered an IPID investigator a lucrative promotion from major general to lieutenant general in exchange for information implicating me in criminal wrongdoing involving Paul O’Sullivan,” McBride said, adding that the IPID investigator, Innocent Khuba, refused the offer.
McBride also questioned Mkhwanazi’s conduct around the murder of IPID investigator Mandla Mahlangu, noting inconsistencies in his actions.
“When KZN was burning in 2021, Mkhwanazi was not on the scene. In the same way, he was not at his friend Mahlangu’s funeral. The conduct, in my view, is not the normal conduct,” he said.
The committee later adjourned, with questioning set to resume after the break.
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