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Activist, Mary De Haas.
Dr Mary De Haas from the KwaZulu-Natal Violence Monitor is accusing KZN Police Commissioner Lt. General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of abandoning the July unrest in 2021 that occurred in the province.
De Haas is appearing before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee looking into concerns around national security.
The committee was established to look into allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption and political interference in the justice system made by Mkhwanazi, in July this year during a media briefing.
“I have just done a memorandum about the security situation in KwaZulu-Natal. After the July 21, I thought they might be focusing on getting better intelligence because, for once, more seniors officials including the senior police minister – and after former President Jacob Zuma was arrested there was nothing coming through from KwaZulu-Natal – I mean Mkhwanazi was nowhere to be found, his phone was off. One minister was very outrageous he just could not understand (how) his phone could go off when the province was burning,” says De Haas.
Meanwhile
Meanwhile, De Haas says she was astonished that her call for the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team would be referenced by the now placed on special leave Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.
During his appearance before the committee, Mchunu told MPs one of the reasons he decided on the disbandment of the PKTT, was the complaint in the form of De Haas’s letter to him.
De Haas had written that the PKTT used a lot of resources with no tangible results.
She told MPs that she never expected any response from Mchunu.
“And I want to stress, I never thought the minister would act. Ministers have never acted when I asked them to do anything before. I was amazed, I was astonished,” she adds.
