SAPS legal head claims recent incidents of political interference within the police is the worst she’s witnessed

South African Police Service (SAPS) legal head Major-General Petronella van Rooyen claimed that the recent incidents of political interference within the SAPS have been the worst she’s witnessed in her close to five decades of service.

Van Rooyen delivered scathing testimony before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on Thursday.

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She called out Minister Senzo Mchunu for abusing his constitutional mandate by issuing an instruction to disband the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team (PKTT).

Van Rooyen, on several occasions, emphasised that Mchunu’s instruction to disband the unit was unlawful, in her view.

Van Rooyen testified before the Madlanga Commission, led by chief evidence leader, Advocate Terry Motau.

“I am of the view that the decision the disband the PKTT as a task team lay within the exclusive authority of a national commissioner, and that the minister did not have the legislative authority to disband the PKTT, let alone in the manner in which he did.”

She accused Mchunu of abusing his political powers by involving himself in operational policing matters, a mandate legally reserved for the national police commissioner.

Van Rooyen further claimed Deputy National Police Commissioner for Crime Detection Shadrack Sibiya unlawfully issued an instruction for 121 dockets, investigated by the KZN political killings task team, to be transferred to his office at police headquarters in Pretoria.