WATCH | Mchunu tells Ad Hoc Committee: Task team was always temporary

Mchunu

Cape Town — Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu appeared before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on Thursday to defend his 2024 directive to disband the KwaZulu-Natal Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), describing the move as a routine administrative action.

Mchunu told lawmakers that the task team, which had been established to investigate politically motivated killings in KwaZulu-Natal, had reached the end of its mandate and was disbanded due to a lack of budget approval for its continuation.

He denied allegations that the decision amounted to interference in ongoing South African Police Service (SAPS) investigations or was influenced by personal connections to controversial figures, including businessman Vusumuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala.

“But there has always been an element of a time frame. You don’t establish a task team on a permanent basis. If you do, it’s rare, it would be peculiar. But ordinarily, a task team has a date of starting, date of ending, pull resources, you pull people back to where they belong,” Mchunu said.

“So this particular task team was established as such  – as a task team. And this task would be evaluated from time to time and assessed whether it would still be needed as time went on, as it happened. That’s the practice.”

Mchunu’s testimony comes amid conflicting accounts from senior police officials, including KwaZulu-Natal Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who has previously raised concerns about the minister’s involvement in operational matters.

The Ad Hoc Committee is probing allegations of political violence and potential misconduct within SAPS in the province.

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu

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