ISS tells Parliament Mchunu likely stayed within his powers over PKTT

The parliamentary Ad Hoc committee on police corruption has heard from civil society and researchers who said that on special leave Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, did not overstep his powers when he issued a controversial directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said that the law allows the police minister to issue directions of this nature.

"In some ways, the Constitution dictates that the minister has broad authority for policing, and more specifically, it authorises the minister to issue national policing policy," said ISS researcher David Bruce.

Bruce added that the minister is also authorised to issue directions to the National Police Commissioner, although he admits there is considerable confusion about the exact scope of the provisions contained in the Constitution.

He said that it could be seen that the current investigations taking place in Parliament and through the Madlanga Commission are a consequence of insufficient attention being paid to clarifying the minister's authority for policing.

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But not everyone agrees with the ISS finding, and some remain adamant that the minister acted beyond his powers in ordering the closure of the PKTT.

"As far as I know, none of them have identified any specific legal provision that he violated," said Bruce.

And he notes that the PKTT itself was established under political direction.

"And there was no controversy about that."

Bruce said that the minister cannot be said to have violated any formal provision of the law.

For more details, listen to Bruce using the audio player below: