MKP members of Parliament mounted a sustained and heated challenge to the analysis presented by Jean Redpath of the Dullah Omar Institute (DOI), accusing her of misleading the committee by using general murder statistics to assess the performance of the now-disbanded Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

The confrontation unfolded during the ad-hoc committee’s hearings on public admissions, with MKP MP Sibonelo Nomvalo leading a forceful interrogation of Redpath’s written submission, particularly paragraph 20, which notes that murders in KwaZulu-Natal rose from about 4,395 in 2018/19 to 6,947 by 2022/23.

Nomvalo argued that the figures were being improperly used to suggest that the PKTT had failed.

“Because my problem here is that you are making an assessment on the performance of the task team, right? And in your assessment, you are using wrong figures. Is that not unfair?” he asked.

Nomvalo insisted that the task team’s mandate was limited strictly to politically motivated killings, contending that assessing the PKTT against overall murder statistics was outside its mandate.

Redpath responded that she fully understood the task team’s scope, but said her point was about impact beyond that narrow focus.

“The amount of resources expended on the PKTT only dealing with a very small part of the murder problem in the province is of great concern,” she said.

She said that an effective intervention should at least have disrupted hitmen networks, illegal firearms and organised violence more broadly.

As the exchange escalated, Nomvalo accused Redpath of inserting wrong numbers under a heading assessing the performance of the PKTT, arguing that the statistics gave the impression that the task team had been ineffective.

“This presentation won’t help us because it is not truthful. You are giving us wrong numbers here,” he said.

Redpath stressed that she was not criticising the PKTT’s narrow operational outcomes but questioning the prioritisation of resources.

The dispute drew an intervention from committee chairperson Soviet Lekganyane, who cautioned MPs against impugning witnesses’ integrity and sought to reframe the disagreement.

He acknowledged evidence that the PKTT had achieved successes in reducing political killings, including admissions by the President and the Minister of Police, while also noting Redpath’s argument that ordinary citizens continued to die in large numbers.

The tension continued when MKP MP David Skosana questioned the independence and funding of the Dullah Omar Institute, suggesting that civil society organisations pursued ideological agendas.

Redpath replied candidly that the Institute did have an agenda, promoting constitutional law, governance and human rights, and confirmed that it received mixed funding from various organisations while also undertaking consultancy work for government departments.

Skosana went on to defend the PKTT as a success and criticised Redpath’s comparison with the Gauteng aggravated robbery strategy, arguing that the task team had reduced politically related murders and that its costs could not be weighed against human lives.

He also challenged her interpretation of ministerial authority over SAPS operations.

Under questioning from Lekganyane, Redpath clarified that she had acknowledged the PKTT’s relative success compared with the general performance of the criminal justice system.

“Compared to the very poor performance in our courts generally, the cases at the PKTT seem to do relatively well,” she said.

However, she maintained that such performance could not be judged in isolation from funding, accountability and broader outcomes.

In her broader presentation, Redpath situated the PKTT within what she described as a deep, systemic deterioration of South Africa’s criminal justice system.

She highlighted collapsing public trust in police, shrinking detective capacity, falling convictions and worsening murder rates, with KwaZulu-Natal standing out as an extreme outlier.

She told the committee that approximately R500 million had been spent on the PKTT over several years, excluding salaries, and raised concerns about opaque budget allocations, prolonged accommodation and overtime costs, and weak parliamentary oversight.

Earlier in the day, the committee confirmed that it would both start a subpoena process regarding businessman Brown Mogotsi as well as pursuing the process in regards to forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan.

The committee continues. 

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Suspended deputy national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya has said that a “succession battle” within the South African Police Service (SAPS), not corruption, lies at the heart of the turmoil surrounding the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

Testifying before Parliament’s ad-hoc committee about allegations of criminal infiltration of the justice system on Tuesday evening, Sibiya defended his integrity while under a barrage of questions from various MPs, insisting that the claims made against him by previous witnesses were “false and contrived”.

“The people of South Africa must begin to realise that someone is playing with people’s minds. The claims against me are false and contrived,” Sibiya declared, dismissing allegations that he acted improperly or colluded with dubious figures.

uMkhonto weSizwe Party MP Sibonelo Nomvalo asked pointed questions about Sibiya’s associations, particularly with controversial figures like alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, a tenderpreneur who is facing attempted murder charges, and ANC fixer Brown Mogotsi.

Nomvalo said it was worrying that a senior police officer would continue interacting with individuals of questionable character.

“As a police officer, are you not aware you are easily accessible by people with questionable characters?” Nomvalo asked.

Sibiya replied that it was “unfair” to expect him to investigate every person he met.

Nomvalo pressed further, asking whether Matlala had paid R2 million towards a plot of land for Sibiya in Pretoria.

“That is not true, my plot was bought through the bank,” Sibiya responded.

When asked whether it was appropriate to meet a service provider while he was serving as acting commissioner, Sibiya said it was appropriate to meet everybody as national commissioner.

Nomvalo also accused Sibiya of justifying suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s decision to disband the PKTT using reasons that differed from those given by National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola.

Sibiya replied that his motivation “came from him” and that Masemola had been consulted about the disbandment on 27 November 2024.

That claim, however, directly contradicts Masemola’s own testimony to the Madlanga Commission, where he said he was neither consulted nor briefed by Mchunu.

When Nomvalo asked whether disbanding the PKTT without consulting its project manager was appropriate, Sibiya said the instruction came from the national commissioner and included a request for a close-up report.

The exchange grew tense as Nomvalo accused Sibiya of dodging questions.

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Glynnis Breytenbach took a different tack, questioning whether the police feud was about integrity or internal politics.

“There’s all this fuss about [KZN police commissioner lieutenant general Nhlanhla] Mkhwanazi’s press briefing. Is it a genuine attempt to expose corruption or just a power struggle in the police?” she asked.

Sibiya replied without hesitation: “According to me, it is about the succession battle in the police.”

Sibiya alleged that Mkhwanazi’s public attacks during his 6 July press briefing, which led to the establishment of the ad hoc committee and the Madlanga Commission, were aimed at blocking Sibiya’s potential appointment as Hawks head. He accused Mkhwanazi of “campaigning on TikTok” to build a cult following.

Sibiya also claimed his phone had been compromised.

“Since 2022, I’ve been unable to use my phone because people did a SIM swap. I’m surrounded by Crime Intelligence officers following me and listening to my devices,” he said.

When DA MP Damien Klopper asked if officers could tamper with messages on phones, Sibiya answered bluntly: “That’s doable, even with civilians.”

The Economic Freedom Fighters’ Leigh-Ann Mathys challenged Sibiya on what she called his “pattern of ignorance”, listing things he said he did not know, including the arrest of Crime Intelligence head, Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo, the movement of PKTT dockets and Matlala’s extensive criminal history.

“Do you consider yourself competent in your job?” she asked.

Sibiya maintained that he was competent, blaming “dual reporting lines” in Crime Intelligence that left him partially informed.

Mathys was unconvinced however, asking how South Africans could trust a deputy national commissioner who did not know one of his generals was going to be arrested. (Khumalo was arrested earlier this year with other senior SAPS figures on fraud and corruption charges for appointing an unqualified civilian to a senior post.)

Mathys accused SAPS leadership of blurring accountability lines through ego and factionalism.

“We’re in this mess because of [Mkhwanazi’s July 6 press briefing],” Sibiya responded, adding that everyone was “doing their best under the circumstances”.

Mathys pressed further on the police’s failure to vet compromised individuals, asking whether it was intentional.

Sibiya pushed back, insisting that a drive to capacitate Crime Intelligence was underway.

Inkhatha Freedom Party MP Albert Mncwango focused on the chain of command, questioning whether Mchunu’s decision to dissolve the PKTT was lawful.

“It was lawful, there’s nothing wrong, actually. Ministers are hands-on,” Sibiya replied.

Mncwango disagreed, but Sibiya countered that the public often demanded visible ministerial action.

The committee is set to meet again on Thursday morning, where they will begin with the testimony of Mchunu.

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