WATCH | Malema shuts down Mkhwanazi hearing — ‘We’re not a junior to Madlanga Commission’

Malema

Cape Town – Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating corruption allegations in the criminal justice system, made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, has been adjourned indefinitely after MPs rejected his supplementary statement.

Mkhwanazi was due to appear before the committee for the first time on Tuesday, following his explosive claims at a July 6 media briefing and later testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in September.

However, EFF leader Julius Malema objected to proceeding without an original statement submitted directly to Parliament, arguing that the committee should not rely on a statement prepared for the commission.

“I don’t understand on what basis you want Mkhwanazi to take the oath because we have no statement before us from Mkhwanazi; we have a supplementary statement. Supplementing what?,” Malema said.

He added: “The statement we have is the one he submitted to the commission. We have told the legal team we are not a junior committee of the commission. There is no statement from Mkhwanazi before us; there’s a statement from Mkhwanazi to the commission. Therefore, in the absence of his statement to the ad hoc committee of parliament, on what basis do you want him to take the oath?

“Mkhwanazi is not properly before us. The legal team has failed us because, in the deliberation, we made it clear and repeatedly said we cannot use the statement of the commission. We are not a junior of the commission.”

Other MPs agreed, describing the situation as “embarrassing” and calling for the session to be postponed until Mkhwanazi submits a proper statement.

Evidence leader advocate Norman Arendse explained that a supplementary statement was provided since Mkhwanazi’s background evidence was already extensively covered under oath at the Madlanga Commission.

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