Parliament to establish ad hoc committee to probe Mkhwanazi claims

KZN’s top cop recently lifted the lid on alleged corruption and collusion among top police officials and members of the judiciary.

On Tuesday, Parliament’s portfolio committees on police, justice, and constitutional development met to consider how to respond to Mkhwanazi's damning claims during a high-level security engagement earlier this month.

During a media briefing earlier this month, the commissioner alleged that some senior officials in Gauteng were protecting criminal syndicates and sabotaging anti-crime efforts from within the state.

On Tuesday, the joint committees resolved to adopt a draft report recommending the formation of an ad hoc committee to thoroughly probe the allegations.

However, not all MPs supported the process without reservation.

Members of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party expressed unease over the report's content, which had not yet been made available in full at the time of the vote.

MK Party MP Mzwanele Manyi said the party could not blindly endorse the process and chose to formally reserve its position.

"Because we actually don't know what is the report going to look like. This is like now adopting in good faith kind of a situation. So I just want to say, in terms of the MK Party, we want to reserve our position in terms of the adoption.

"We know what has happened, etc. But we just don't want to be included in people that finally agreed on everything, because we really don't agree. But we can't be obstructionists here. So we just want to say the MK party reserves its position in terms of this report."

Despite the reservations, the majority of committee members agreed that the gravity of the allegations warranted a thorough and transparent investigation through a formal parliamentary process.

In due course, the finalised report recommending the ad hoc committee will be tabled before the National Assembly.

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