'We hope to lance this boil' - Glynnis Breytenbach on ad hoc committee probing Mkhwanazi allegations
Once it elects a chairperson, the 18-member multi-party committee will then begin the process of investigating Mkhwanazi’s allegations of corruption in the police and the criminal justice system.
FILE: KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in his office at the provincial operations building in Durban. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/EWN
CapeTalk's John Maytham speaks to Glynnis Breytenbach, a former prosecutor with the National Prosecuting Authority and Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament.
Listen below:
An ad hoc parliamentary committee investigating allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi will meet for the first time today (Tuesday) to elect its chairperson.
Alongside the Madlanga Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which has yet to start its investigation, the committee is tasked with investigating the explosive claims made by Mkhwanazi last month.
Among them, the now-suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu was guilty of political interference in criminal cases.
Breytenbach sits on the parliamentary committee.
She says the basis of each inquiry is slightly different.
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"The speed at which they can work differs... Justice Madlanga's inquiry will probably be a bit longer, a bit more cumbersome."
- Glynnis Breytenbach, MP - DA
"At the end of it, he can make recommendations to the President, and the President can act on them or he doesn't have to act on them..."
- Glynnis Breytenbach, MP - DA
Breytenbach explains that, unlike the judicial inquiry, the ad hoc committee has a finite 90-day period in which to finalise its business.
"We have the same powers of subpoenaing people, witnesses, documents, papers... we have no fewer powers [than the Madlanga Inquiry]. I think it will be a slightly more robust procedure."
- Glynnis Breytenbach, MP - DA
"... we hope to lance this boil and get the information that needs to be uncovered, uncovered and out there in the public domain."
- Glynnis Breytenbach, MP - DA
Ad hoc committee member Ian Cameron said at the weekend that the committee would focus on specific cases and not politics.
Breytenbach agrees.
"This issue is way more important, in my view, than party politics."
- Glynnis Breytenbach, MP - DA
Last month, General Mkhwanazi held a press conference in which he accused Mchunu of political interference in criminal cases.
He labelled Mchunu and Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection Shadrack Sibiya as key allies of a powerful organised criminal syndicate.
Mkhwanazi also claimed Mchunu’s move to disband the KZN political killings task team was aimed at protecting criminals and sabotaging police investigations.
President Ramaphosa subsequently placed Mchunu on a special leave of absence pending investigations into the allegations.
Scroll up to listen to the full conversation from Afternoon Drive.