Mchunu defends directive to disband PKTT before Parliament

Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has defended his directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

He told Parliament that police task teams have a lifespan, and the task team receiving additional funding doesn't mean its operations can be extended.  

Mchunu has been responding to questions from evidence leader Advocate Norman Arendse on the alleged unlawful disbandment of the KwaZulu-Natal-based PKTT and undue political interference in the decision. 

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Mchunu told the Ad Hoc Committee that there's a clear distinction between a police task team and a unit within the organisation.

In terms of the PKTT, Mchunu said that when he issued the directive, he wanted the whole country to benefit.  

"Remember, by the time we approved the structure, we had the imperatives of the seventh administration, which, among others, says you need to make the people of South Africa all of them to feel safe, not some of them somewhere." 

Mchunu said other units suffer because of the task team's continued existence.  

"They are going to sit and not do their work because the Political Killings Task Team is there. That's what you are finding in Gauteng, for instance."