By Akani Nkuna
Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating allegations made by SAPS KZN Commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has rigorously debated the decision not to call Major-General Feroz Khan to testify before it despite him repeatedly being mentioned by witnesses in relation to the Aeroton cocaine investigation and other allegations concerning his conduct.
The committee continued its consideration of the draft report during a virtual meeting on Tuesday, where uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) MP David Skosana demanded that the report indicate that “some members were against” the appearance of Khan before the committee.
Khan was shot and seriously wounded in an apparent assassination attempt in Houghton in June, just days before he was due to testify before the Madlanga Commission. Police have said the motive for the attack has not yet been established.
Skosana said the MKP was not satisfied with the report omitting the word “repeatedly” in relation to the number of times Khan was mentioned before the committee, adding that such wording contextualised the significance of his absence and the committee’s inability to put allegations to him.
EFF MP Leigh-Ann Mathys said that the word “repeatedly” should be “rephrased into context”, emphasising that Khan’s omission from the committee’s witness list was not a deliberate strategy, and that a number of other people who were mentioned during testimony also did not appear for various reasons, including the committee’s tight timeline.
“The sentence must not imply that it was a deliberate cover-up that the committee took a decision, even after all this evidence, that [Khan] must not appear before us. There were a lot of allegations about a lot of people that we also did not get a chance to interrogate,” Mathys said.
In the draft report, the committee acknowledged that Khan’s failure to testify limited its ability to probe and resolve certain matters relating to Crime Intelligence.
“Maj Gen Khan’s absence limited the Committee’s ability to resolve conflicting allegations concerning Crime Intelligence disciplinary, vetting, security-clearance and related operation disputes. Because he did not testify, the allegations were not put to him, and the relevant records were incomplete,” read the draft report.
The draft report also dealt with allegations concerning former police minister Bheki Cele and businessman Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, who remains in custody and is currently standing trial on a string of criminal charges, while also facing separate criminal proceedings.
Evidence arising from Matlala’s testimony has previously prompted recommendations for further investigation by relevant law-enforcement authorities. However, Cele was not given an opportunity before the committee to respond to some of the allegations made by Matlala because he had testified before the businessman appeared.
The ANC, represented by Mdumiseni Ntuli, proposed that the report recommend that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation investigate allegations concerning Cele’s possible involvement in influencing which companies were awarded PPE tenders during his tenure as police minister, as well as allegations relating to the controversial Telkom Towers transaction.
The committee’s consideration of the draft report also included debate over the findings relating to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, who is currently on special leave of absence.
The draft report indicates that the evidence before the committee did not establish that Mchunu entered into a corrupt agreement or acted on the instructions of a criminal cartel while he was minister, as has been alleged. However, members stressed that the committee had faced limitations in interrogating all of the information placed before it.
“It must not read in a sense that we exonerate minister Mchunu. It is also one of our section in our report [highlighting] our limitations. We were also unable to interrogate much of the information that was before us. For us just to say the evidence does not establish is not true, we had limitations,” said Mathys.
A debate ensued, with some members of the committee, particularly Skosana, arguing that Mchunu had not been entirely candid about his relationship with controversial businessman Brown Mogotsi — who is currently facing criminal charges relating to an allegedly staged assassination attempt on himself.
The committee members said there were inconsistencies between evidence given before the committee and testimony before the Madlanga Commission.
The contents of the report may still be amended as it remains under consideration by the committee.
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