Masemola ‘asked Ramaphosa’ to intervene on task team disbandment
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola says he turned to President Cyril Ramaphosa after Police Minister Senzo Mchunu ordered the disbandment of the KwaZulu-Natal Political Killings Task Team.
Masemola told the commission of inquiry into political interference and corruption in the criminal justice sector on Monday that he felt the president was the only authority he could approach once the minister gave the instruction.
READ: Masemola: I won’t follow minister’s orders if they break the law
He stressed that he could not take legal action against his own political principal.
"I could not take my own minister to court. The only person I could report this to was the president,” Masemola testified.
“I did so because I felt the minister had gone beyond his mandate. But to this day, I have never received any response.”
He revealed that Mchunu, who is currently on leave of absence, never sought input from him, provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, or task team leader Dumisani Khumalo before shutting down the unit.
READ MORE: Mkhwanazi to shed more light on Mchunu, Brown Mogotsi ties
Masemola said this bypassed process undermined his constitutional mandate as commissioner.
"If the minister had concerns, he could have suggested disbanding the task team and initiated a discussion with me and the provincial commissioner,” he said. “But to go further and say, ‘Disband now, now, now, not even tomorrow,’ that is a total encroachment into the mandate of the national commissioner.”
Commission chair Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga pressed Masemola on why he obeyed an order he believed was unlawful.
Masemola insisted that his decision to elevate the matter to the president showed he understood its seriousness, but said Ramaphosa’s silence left him without support.
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