By Johnathan Paoli
Former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) head Robert McBride delivered explosive testimony before Parliament’s ad hoc committee, placing significant focus on the role he alleges was played by Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in undermining investigations linked to former acting National Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane.
Resuming after lunch, evidence leader Norman Arendse continued leading McBride’s evidence, which painted a picture of systemic interference, intelligence infiltration and alleged inducements aimed at derailing sensitive cases.
McBride told the committee that while he was suspended from office, several IPID cases were prematurely closed, a development he attributed partly to infiltration by Crime Intelligence through the appointment of officer Tlou Kgomo.
McBride said Kgomo had “no reason” to be at IPID and later moved directly to Crime Intelligence, where he resurfaced defending Phahlane in Parliament.
McBride added that Crime Intelligence’s counter-intelligence unit is mandated to investigate its own members, not external criminal networks, warning that control of the Crime Intelligence slush fund renders its officers effectively “invincible”.
Turning to Mkhwanazi, McBride referred to a sworn statement from an IPID investigator who alleged that Mkhwanazi asked him for information implicating McBride and forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan.
While the investigator was not asked to fabricate evidence, he was allegedly promised career advancement within SAPS, alongside similar inducements for slain IPID official Mandla Mahlangu and former CI investigator and chief of staff to suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, Cedric Nkabinde.
The statement further alleged that Mkhwanazi proposed meeting them later that same night.
McBride said he did not know Mkhwanazi personally, but recalled encountering him during a formal introduction to police entities, where Mkhwanazi complained that he was not being given work.
He accused Mkhwanazi of playing a “prosecutable role” in attempts to scupper the investigation into Phahlane, describing him as a close ally of the former police boss.
“Phahlane and Mkhwanazi are very close. Mkhwanazi looked after Phahlane,” McBride told MPs.
He also raised concerns about what he described as inconsistencies in Mkhwanazi’s account of his relationship with Mahlangu, who was murdered in 2020.
McBride said Mahlangu himself had told him that he and Mkhwanazi were close friends who attended soccer matches together, yet Mkhwanazi did not attend Mahlangu’s funeral.
“I find that a bit strange,” McBride said, adding that the relationship appeared to be understated.
Under questioning, McBride stressed that he was not accusing Mkhwanazi of involvement in Mahlangu’s murder, but maintained that the inconsistencies “need to be looked at”.
He further revealed that Mahlangu had received threats, at least one of which was traced back to Crime Intelligence.
McBride said Mahlangu’s murder appeared to have derailed a defeating-the-ends-of-justice investigation linked to Phahlane, noting that while suspects were arrested and sentenced, the broader context remained troubling.
He told the committee that Phahlane has spent the past seven years using “every trick in the book” to avoid standing trial, with two cases now set down for October and November.
McBride’s testimony continues on Wednesday.
INSIDE POLITICS